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	The effects of deleting a social medium
	March 06th, 2020
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	I recently removed the Instagram app from my phone. (pause for
	applause).

	This is not a statement about the evils of social media, or the
	objectification of ketogenic foods, or whatever else you might be
	guessing. It's about time.

	I removed the app because of the little magnifying-glass button
	next to the home feed. There was a tendency for me to fill my time
	by looking at random pictures Instagram thought relevant to me.
	This was really easy for their algorithm to game and optimize.
	Very quickly I had an endless scroll of "neat" stuff, and that was
	sucking up way too much of my time without any tangible reward.

	I like my own instagram feed. Seeing photos from friends and
	places that interest me is cool and relatively quick to consume.
	I don't need to read much and I can "catch up" quickly in a linear
	timeline. If there were a way to disable that little magnifier
	icon the app would still be on my phone.

	I've since started posting pictures on pixelfed [0]. There's not
	much to that app except the posting of pictures, so the temptation
	to check it at other times is gone. When I post something I give
	the feed a quick scroll to see if anything new is there, and then
	I'm done. Easy!

	[0] pixelfed

	Even so, in the days following the Instagram change I went through
	the usual withdrawl. I ended up closing and opening mastodon again
	several times in a row as my hands tried to fill the habit with
	the available tools. Now several days in I'm no longer in that
	habitual loop and I've begun reclaiming my time [1].

	[1] Reclaiming my time

	The first effect is my improved patience with long-form content.
	I've been catching up on phlogs & blogs (RSS) more readily. That
	was unexpected but appreciated. It makes me wonder about the
	implications too. If cutting out one small habit that involved
	short attention-span cycling has such a major effect on my overall
	patience, how crippled is my current state? If I cut out Mastodon
	and even IRC, would that attention continue to grow? How fast?
	This might warrant some experimentation.

	Another effect is a diminishing of the value of my phone.
	I haven't ceased using it and there are plenty of other apps that
	hold my attention for lengthy periods. Still, the change has been
	tangible. Again, further experimentation is needed.

	I know this community is filled with folks who have gone through
	similar changes. What's your experience with cutting out a social
	platform? Has it remained cut out? Do you still see the tangibles
	in your life, or did those fade to some sort of "rest state"? Were
	there notable negatives?