It was confirmed. 

Deep down I knew this.

Then, three of my childhood friends confirmed it for me – three friends from Kindergarten.

These friends were not afraid of speaking their mind. If there was anyone I trusted to give me feedback without sugar coating it, that would be these friends.

What did they say? I’ll share that shortly… 

But before some context. Here’s the thing – 

If you were in our Whatsapp group you’d find me as one of the three people eager to jump in a debate on mostly politics. Not that my friends would call me argumentative. 

But to me, it seemed that’s what was going on. 

A close friend, also Deepak aka Pintu, joked about how I was mostly discussing politics in our Whatsapp group and the only time to have any other conversation is when I was asleep.

Another friend, Sandeep aka Sandy, but more popularly known as the King, sent a story of how media sensationalizes and spurts the venom and friends debate on social media and end up destroying their friendships. 

“They claim that the manipulation of human behavior for profit is coded into these companies with Machiavellian precision: Infinite scrolling and push notifications keep users constantly engaged; personalized recommendations use data not just to predict but also to influence our actions.”

Deepak, aka Bingu, another close friend, shared a link about the documentary called Social Dilemma.  

As I reread those lines, it struck me. 

You Are On Drugs!

That’s right.

You, me, our families and friends. We are all on drugs.

“Manipulating human behavior to influence actions…” that seems a lot like drugs. The worst part is that these products – Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter have been designed to make us addicts.

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, literally wrote the book on how to “hook” users. “The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,” Eyal writes. “It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.” None of this is an accident, he writes. It is all “just as their designers intended”.

There are hundreds of studies on psychological effects of social media. In fact I was aware of it too. But quitting and make the jump never seemed “practical”.

“There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. One recent study showed that the mere presence of smartphones damages cognitive capacity – even when the device is turned off.” Guardian journalist wrote in Silicon Valley Dystopia.

The Damage Done

Social Dilemma is a documentary that addresses this issue of how social media companies have modified human behavior and it’s widespread impact on our lives. I haven’t watched the documentary, but it’s trailer will give you brief summary of the problem.

So… there it is.

So, Now What?

I am not sure if I have a good solution just yet.

And here’s why…

I do want to stay connected with my friends and extended family. I also care about some causes that I can only participate through social media.

And then, what about people who spread fake news and narratives? In our Whatsapp group, there are a few who will continue to pour venom and hate. What about replying to them?

I don’t have all the answers.

But if you know me, you know that I’m not going to sit on the sidelines. I very much believe in Rule #1 – Be Proactive.

Here’s the punchline…

I am Quitting! All Social Media for at least the next 100 Days.

That’s right.

No Whatsapp. No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram.

The truth is I have been thinking about this for a while but never took the step. Perhaps due to the fact that I was using social media compulsively.

And, that I have FOMO.

Fear Of Missing Out. 

That I would miss out on all the interactions and discussions. And so I don’t want to commit to quitting forever. Because I am not sure if it’s realistic to completely eliminate the social interaction forever.

So, 100 days experiment.

How To Quit Social Media (for 100 days or more)

So what am I quitting? Figured places where I am wasting most of the time would be a good start.

However, quitting a bad habit needs a positive habit to replace it. Those are two sides of equation – Remove the Bad, and Add the Good.

Eliminating the Bad…

• No Whatsapp 
• No Facebook
• No Twitter
• No Instagram
• No Pinterest
• No consumption of news
• No consumption of YouTube (I really don’t want to do this)
• No podcast episodes

What’s okay

• Staying touch with family
• Youtube for recipe search or specific tutorial (This I am not sure, if it’ll work)
• Personal interactions – phone calls or emails.
• Audio books on Audible? Not sure yet.

…and Replace with Good

I have always had a side project or two. I also have several unfinished house projects and a bucket list of projects to start. Seems like a good time to fix this.

Here are some cool ones that I’ll be working on –

1. 30 Day Experiments and Challenges – Like increasing my typing speed to 100+wpm, 30 day photo challenges, cold showers, building an app,
2. Publish a Podcast with my kiddo – We’ve been working on this podcast for months now. We will be releasing it soon. Click here to be the first one to be notified.
3. HabitZoo – Few months back we started selling habit building game for kids. Details are available at HabitZoo.com
4. Growing Microgreens and Indoor Gardening
5. Reading more books sharing summaries to small group of friends who sign up below.

Stay in Touch

I don’t know how much social media will I use after the 100 days. I don’t know if I will succeed or if I will fail. Will I be able to stay away from the social media for all 100 days?

My better half is in utter disbelief. What do you think?

Enter the details below and you’ll be the first one to get all the juicy updates.

Credit: Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash