It's now been 6 months since I stopped using Instagram and TikTok, and I have also lost interest in other platforms during that time as I've shifted my focus to in person relationships and the physical world over online relationships and the virtual world. Looking back on my time on TikTok, I started just before COVID happened. As the world shut down and everyone isolated, I started looking for connections with random people online, but this was wrong. I continued doing this for years. By being a top fan I was helping to keep these creators hooked on the high of social media interaction as well.
I should have been putting that time and energy into friends that I could actually meet up with in real life. I realize now that I was pulled in by the addictive design of these platforms. I no longer want to give up my personal data, time, energy, and attention to social media. I no longer want to be mindlessly feeding my brain based on what some algorithm decides I should be looking at. And I don't want to be a part of the reason that anyone else falls into this trap or stays in it. If any of my actions on social media had a negative effect on anyone reading this, please accept my apology and know that I am truly sorry and I have changed.
I have already deactivated and scheduled my Instagram and TikTok accounts for deletion, and I will be exiting various other accounts as well in the coming days.
