Day 001. Breaking the Scroll: 91 Days Off Social Media & Rediscovering Life IRL
Chronicles of a Millennial on a Social Media Detox
Welcome to a departure from our usual programming. I’m embarking on a digital adventure this October and taking you along for the ride!
Five days a week, Monday through Friday, I’ll chronicle my digital detox—specifically, my separation from Instagram. I’ve cherished this annual ritual since 2016, signing off all social media until the New Year. It’s usually two weeks to six weeks long, but this year I’m dialling up the challenge.
I’m also diving into daily publishing. I cannot predict or promise what each day will look like, but if your inboxes feel under siege, you can tweak your settings here. Otherwise, stay tuned—for a little while— to see what I’ll create.
At the end of October, I’ll re-evaluate again if this cadence makes sense. Please feel free to share your feedback (if any), on whether the frequency is sustainable and welcomed or if it bothers you. I’ll either revert to our previous scheduling or find a happy medium. Your preference matters, so please do speak up.
My Digital Detox Protocol
My cleanse will zero in on Instagram, my digital drug of choice. TikTok and X? Please. They’re barely quarterly intruders. YouTube? It’s more of a Netflix alternative, watching documentaries and well-produced episodes versus an aimless scroll fest, so it can stay. Spotify and Apple Music though get a hall pass, as life without a soundtrack is too depressing.
I daydream of the day I’ll have a permanent vinyl collection, that’ll be the envy of every hipster around. Only then, nestled in the corner of a permanent nest, will I feel ready to level up this detox to cut the cord on music streaming, too. For now, an Instagram cleanse is what’s kicking off.
I am also, for obvious reasons, making an exception for Substack—I can’t ghost my own newsletter. But, as you know I’m upping the ante this year: a three-month digital sabbatical from Instagram—today until January 1st, 2025! Ambitious? Yes, maybe. But, it feels necessary.
In the years I’ve done this, January 1st is rarely a desperate dash back to the digital world. Sometimes, I am eager to reconnect; most other times, I’ll linger in isolation for a few days longer. I always emerge feeling refreshed!
I'll log back in to some missed tags and messages, aware of the thousands of posts, updates, and scrolls that escaped my attention. Leaving Instagram altogether still feels impossible, especially with my desire to create online.
For all the content I missed, over these next ninety-one days, I'll never know what it was and, therefore, will never care. What I always gain is invaluable time and fresh perspectives. That's the bliss I am promised and look forward to each year.
Why This Matters (And Why You Should Care)
We live in a world increasingly puppeteered not by governments but by tech companies. From OpenAI to Google to Meta to Amazon, they are our modern-day empires.
I want to believe these individuals, who run these companies, who are mostly male, have our best interests at heart. But, history tells us a different story: lust for power and money tends to skew good intentions.
It’s not that I believe most of them start with evil plans. I think they were all driven by some level of enthusiasm for innovation, the potential for value creation, and perhaps a motivation to secure financial freedom for themselves and loved ones too. These are reasons that are fundamental to the promise of progress that we humans are wired for.
But, somewhere along the lines, as history shows, the thirst for power and capitalistic incentives often triumph over the duty towards the greater good of billions of strangers. Globalised by the Internet, emboldened by technology, these tech giants of today wield, and continue to acquire, unprecedented levels of power and influence never before witnessed throughout history.
They’re dominance secured and their reach massively extended, as long as they can stay ahead of the curve. Yet, we also know all too well that we humans are flawed. Greed and self-interest are seductive forces that often aren’t trailing far behind.
A World of Algorithms
Our world is also increasingly ruled by algorithms, coded by people at a distance, living in vastly different realities than our own. We’re no longer genuinely free-willing individuals; instead, we’re mere participants in the matrix of an addictive, algorithmic, profit-driven advertising haven. This reality, crafted to lure us, shapes our existence.
Some results are advantageous, but we cannot be blind to what it has cost us. If you’re on any of these platforms and think you're immune to this addiction, think again: social media is an addiction. You’re in denial if you believe you’re not affected; these platforms have been engineered to hook you.
My yearly detox is my small rebellion—an attempt to salvage what’s left of my independence, especially my headspace and attention. It’s a little annual ritual to reclaim some autonomy, however minimal, over these platforms that increasingly dominate my mind.
This is the first year I am aiming for three months, a total of ninety-one days, starting today. Honestly, I also want the freedom to explore my creativity as authentically as I can; this feels like the best way to do it.
What I’m Most Excited About
Sanity Check: Instagram can bring joy and inspiration, but it can also induce FOMO, unrelenting comparison, and feelings of insignificance. This annual break is my mental health tune-up.
Thought Independence: Our daily scrolls shape our opinions and choices. I’m creating more space and time for independent thinking by eliminating the source of random algorithmic influence.
Personal Reinvention: About eighteen months ago, I made a drastic life change, pivoting from a fitness instructor to a full-time creative. This digital hibernation is my attempt at creating a cocoon for deeper transformation. I want to gain more clarity on my opinions, what I have to say, and what I want to create devoid of online influence.
The Bigger Picture
We’re at the cusp of a major technological revolution—AI. While the disruption of the Internet and social media changed our world forever, we’ve now become more aware of what happens when we relinquish too much power and responsibilities to a select few, without guardrails, especially in the hands of capitalistic corporate technologists.
The results of social media on global society and the world order have been aptly documented by many activists and media alike. Yet, a decade ago, we were in such awe of these platforms that their dominance was never questioned. It's only recently that we are witnessing its true impact—unfortunately, as we’ve realised too late, not all of them are positive.
Reclaiming My Humanity
This yearly detox is my attempt to return to my humanity, a reminder to savour life IRL (in real life). As someone who straddles the pre- and post-social media eras, I feel uniquely positioned to navigate this divide.
The future may always be uncertain, but one thing is crystal clear: our world will increasingly be ruled by algorithms, large language models, integrated technology and the tech companies who build them.
We no longer live in an era of sovereign states; we inhabit a realm where technologists are the power players calling the shots. They are the new empires deciding humanity’s fate.
This is why carving out three months off social media, however minuscule the effort in comparison to the influence of these techno giants, feels significant. It’s about reclaiming my autonomy, rediscovering my authenticity, and about liberating my mind from the grip of these ever dominant algorithms.
I am seeing this series as a sort of public service announcement (PSA), and therefore, it will be made public for all to read. Feel free to share this with someone who might enjoy it.
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