11 january 2025
I've been meaning to write some feels about my relationship to social media and what I've been doing to change that, but haven't gotten around to it until now.
There's a tension for me between not wanting to get sucked into the pit of the social media algorithm and wanting to keep in touch with the friends and family that use Facebook and Instagram. It certainly doesn't help that they've decided that it's okay to talk about trans people like we're not human beings. It's really easy to get sucked in, though. There's something dangerously addictive about social media, and I've gotten to the point where I want to reclaim some of my life where I'm aimlessly scrolling the various feeds for the next dopamine hit that I can get from some unexpected content. It's the unexpected and algorithmic content that's really been getting to me lately, and along with the anti-trans sentiments I feel like it's getting worse and worse. I get ads for things that I don't really care about, or that are in fundamental opposition to who I am and what I believe. So, I figured, it's time to take back some control, if I'm going to continue to hang out on these sites.
So, I've taken some steps that I think will help. My primary "tool" for doomscrolling has been my phone, so I've mostly made changes to my (Android) phone:
Changed the launcher. I'm using Olauncher, which is a text only app launcher. I have 7 apps on my home screen, and I've chosen apps that aren't social media to be on my screen. Anything else I have to search for by name.
Installed ScreenZen. It's an app that allows you to set various "pause groups" that will interrupt you when you start a specific app and give messages like "take a deep breath" or "can this wait until later?" -- I have two different app groups, one to help restrict the amount of time I'm on social media during my work day, and one that helps with redirecting me when I open social media apps in general where I'd rather redirect to...
Firefox + SocialFocus. So when I do decide (and that active decision is key) to look at social media, I'm using Firefox because you can install plugins on their mobile browser, and the SocialFocus plugin because you can use it to disrupt the algorithms. So my Facebook feed, for example, doesn't have ads or suggestions anymore. It's a very different experience to have social media without the algorithm, and it makes Facebook feel a bit more like Mastodon. There are some things that I can't do from Firefox (Instagram reels are a bit janky), so I'm not 100% getting rid of the apps, but I am choosing when to use the app. I'm in control.
Color Correction. This is a built in part of Android, and something I hadn't really considered before now. When I'm starting work, or know that there's going to be time that I really don't want to be staring at my phone as much, I use Color Correction to make my display be grayscale. It's amazing how much less enticing my device is when you take all the color away. It doesn't really remove functionality -- I can still read messages, take pictures, etc - but there's something about not having the color that helps me to be in control of it. I've got it as a button in the pull-down from the top of the screen, so it's easy to turn on and off and I need.
I've noticed that with these strategies, I'm using social media a lot less (or at least being intentional about it), and I've got time in my day where I'm... feeling a bit bored. So I'm leaning into that a bit. I've got lots of projects that I've had in mind for a while, and I'm hoping I can shift some of that boredom towards them.
One of those projects is learning some Rust. I've found Rustlings to be a really engaging way to learn things about the language, and I've been astonished at exactly how much Rust I'm retaining throughout. I'm trying to be very careful about not becoming over-obsessed with Rust -- no "Rust All the Things!" but rather "Rust for some things, Python for others, Bash too". Using the right language and the familiar language is important to me, as well as adopting an attitude that is intolerant to language zealotry.