This year, I tried something I didn’t really think was possible: I got off and managed to stay away from social media. Facebook, Instagram, and later TikTok, became an important part of both my professional and personal life over the years – as a marketer, I felt an almost contractual obligation to stay on these platforms for as long as I worked in corporate. But this year, I got out and it felt like this:

First, I phased out Facebook. I kept the account for longer than it deserved, mostly to be able to review ad drafts prepared by my team’s media buying wizards, check out events in my area, list stuff for sale on second-hand marketplaces. But after one too many dumb posts from my transphobic, conspiracy theory-loving cousin I decided it was time to leave for good.

Instagram felt like a place where I could broadcast my thoughts, keep the audience small and make myself comfortable. Let me tell you, my IG Stories were elite. Carefully planned, informative, well researched – I think my best work was a series about Der Blaue Reiter art group, back in 2023. In 2024, my themes changed and I focused 100% on the history and reality of a certain occupied territory, fundraisers for the victims of the occupation, calls for boycotts. It brought me some relief at a time when I felt resigned and hopeless, it felt like doing something, allowed me to connect with like-minded people and weed out those whose knee-jerk reactions made me even sadder. However, by 2025 I realized that:
a) everyone who was willing to listen, heard me already
b) Meta as a company is so harmful that it outweighs any benefits of the content I was posting (I still have “Careless People” in my reading queue, it might sill surprise me how much intentional harm Zuck is willing to inflict on others for profit).

I remained on TikTok until August. The algorithm was fantastic, connecting me with just the kind of artists and art lovers, writers and readers, scholars and students that I needed in my life. It was also an easy way to drown the noise in my head after a stressful day at work – a stream of short videos, engaging enough to not think about my job and feel like I’m doing something, but requiring no follow-up, not further action. However, saving videos about books and art was not reading or making art, and the infinite scroll really sucks you in. I quit cold turkey and a little by accident, after dropping and breaking my phone. Felt like a sign.

Anyway, it’s been a Very Good Thing and here’s a bunch of discoveries I’ve made since abandoning my accounts.

Discovery #1. Posting to Instagram Stories was not the creative outlet I needed.

IG Stories were a quick way to arrange my thoughts, broadcast them and receive instant validation in the form of likes. But there was little need to improve or evolve my style and, let’s be honest, I was creating content for Meta to keep my friends on the platform for longer and make them watch more targeted ads. Ever since I stopped posting my art and writing to IG, I became more creative and sharing my work with friends feels more joyful. To find new ways of expression, I started experimenting with video, zines, linocut, collage. I began journaling more, practicing long-form writing – a skill somewhat atrophied but recoverable. I created a magazine about my 2024 and I’m currently working on the 2025 edition. After months of regular creative practice, I finally returned to this blog and for the first time in years I feel like I might want to write regularly.

Discovery #2. I am still just as informed as I used to be – now with 100% less brain fog.

It took me a while to find news sources I respect, bookmark valuable websites and find Patreon accounts of artists I want to support. Recently, I organized my online resources in a dedicated tool (raindrop.io, it’s great) and it’s been a game-changer. I take more notes now and at the end of each day I organize my notes on what I’ve learned and the media I consumed, look up words and names I noted down, list things to research later.

Breaking up with the infinite stream of content that I had little control over made room for more intentional reading. Here’s a few of my recent discoveries:

• The Public Domain Review is a wonderful resource, full of inspiring visuals and thought-provoking reads. This article about Victorian England and hallucinogenic mushrooms captured my attention because I’ve always been a great fan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
• PHMuseum is an independent platform dedicated to sharing and supporting visual culture. It showcases a multitude of perspectives and hosts artists expressing themselves in a great variety of styles. I really enjoyed this photography project about returning to your hometown after spending your twenties trying to shake it off.
• F(r)iction is a literary publication and an imprint of a literacy and storytelling nonprofit called Brink Literacy Project. It creates a space for young writers from diverse backgrounds and houses a collection of fiction, nonfiction, literary interviews and essays such as “Dating Tips form Jane Austen”. 

Discovery #3. People are just as easy (or difficult) to contact and connect with.

I never treated social media like an address book, regularly pruning my Friends and Followers because it always felt weird and uncomfortable to lurk on the web and observe the lives of people I wasn’t speaking to anymore. So, while my friends noticed I was no longer posting, they had no problem switching to direct messaging and in some cases snail mail. I was never meant to maintain a group of “100 close friends” and I’m glad I stopped behaving like I should.

That being said, it was a little bit awkward to go to a bookclub meeting and be asked “What’s your insta?” multiple times during the event. That’s the funniest thing – social media connections are for strangers these days while your phone number is private information reserved for your family, close friends and coworkers.

Discovery #4. I had to find new ways to regulate my fried nervous system.

When you think of it, social media platforms are digital pacifiers, there was even an app called Binky at some point. There’s still plenty of content in the world to drown the post-workday noise, but it’s more curated now. I read more, twenty-two books this year and counting. When my thumb wants to scroll (muscle memory of an addict), I open Wikipedia home page in English or in French. Or, I open the Larousse Dictionnaire Français, press the roll-the-dice icon and allow it to show me random words. I am not yet comfortable with silent reflection immediately after waking up or after work, but it’s easier to make time for it in the evening now that I’m not stuck in the infinite scroll.

Discovery #5. Many F&B businesses don’t have websites anymore, just IG.

It’s actually really hard to check if that new cafe in town is open on a public holiday without Instagram. Luckily, business content is searchable via google and bing, you’re still allowed to look at some posts in browser before you’re prompted to download the app, and I’ll never care about your new matcha latte place enough to install Instagram again.