A little over a month ago, I pulled the plug on all my remaining social media accounts and went full-on cold turkey on everything. And by “cold turkey”, I mean that I didn’t leave myself the option of reactivating those accounts. Twitter and Facebook make it intentionally hard to leave the service altogether, for obvious reasons, and they instead suggest you just let your account sit dormant until you come to your senses. (Facebook also tries to put a guilt trip on you by letting you know how VERY MUCH your friends are going to miss you.)
So the accounts are gone. In the process, I lost a few hundred Facebook friends and about 6,000 Twitter followers. And you know what happened to my professional and personal relationships?
Not a damn thing.
The people who were in touch with me before are still in touch with me. They have my phone number and my private email address. I did not disappear like Marty McFly in the photograph just because I am no longer on social media. I have no doubt that I’ll miss out on a few things—Twitter in particular was useful for the occasional coordination of meet-ups and social events with colleagues—but I think that the negative impact of social media on my ability to focus vastly outweighed the networking benefits.
And I have to tell you that the absence of social media has had a major positive effect in my life. I didn’t even realize just how pervasive that low-level background din of constant information and compulsive cycling through feeds had become until it was no longer there. I’m more relaxed, more productive, and better able to concentrate for long periods of time. And I am unaware of the Outrage of the Day, which means my mood and anxiety levels have improved greatly. It’s to the point where I don’t even check news feeds anymore beyond a quick headline skimming. I’ll tune in to NPR on the way to the grocery store, and that does the trick of keeping me generally informed without subjecting myself to the information barrage of online news sites. Maybe sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
It’s strange how the first few days after social media feel like kicking an addiction. I found myself reaching for my phone more than once to snap pictures for my Instagram feed, and that urge only subsided after a week or two. But now, the idea of stopping my day for a minute to post something for likes or comments has no appeal anymore. There’s a reason why the social media engineers make their products intentionally addictive—they make money every time someone pulls down on their feed to refresh it. (Even the very motion used to refresh is a slot machine kinetic, and that’s exactly what Twitter and Facebook have become. They’re not information or quality social connection, they’re slot machines in our pockets, and the people who put them there are the ones who get the payout.)
I’m not saying that everyone needs to get off social media, but I think that more people should consider it, especially those of us in the creative field. Writing requires long periods of unbroken concentration, and Twitter and Facebook are explicitly designed to claim attention as much as possible. I’m pretty sure that if I had ditched social media two years ago, I’d have two or three more novels in my backlist, and the ones I did manage to write would have turned out better than they did with social media in the picture.
First, just want to say that I love your books and the characters and stories you create. Thank you.
Based on the little I know about you as a real person, which isn’t a lot, I have already put you on my list of people I respect and like. This post about social media just earned you 1 million internet points in my book (I’m sure you are relieved to hear that ) and my respect for you has increased even more as a result.
In my opinion social media has its pros and cons like all things but I can’t help but think that social media as it exists today really isn’t as beneficial for humanity as the software providers want us to believe. From my perspective and in my opinion I believe that it is just the opposite of beneficial. But to each their own I suppose.
Anyway I appreciate the post am glad to hear that you have kicked the habit.
I’d like to echo Ghost Rider…WRITE FASTER!
And congrats on Aftershocks–fantastic opening for an new universe–lots of tantalizing hints about the backstory.
Also, a coup getting Luke Daniels to do the Audible version.
It’s not really a Marko Kloos Audible book without that guy.
As I suggested earlier…good move. Write. More. Books.
Did the same thing 2 years ago, one of the best decision I’ve ever made. Couldn’t agree more with benefits of leaving social media. At first, addiction syndromes were real. Sometimes I found myself scrolling through my pictures in my camera app expecting them to refresh or what 😀 But after that… suddenly, you have more time on your hands, your mind is clear, then you ask yourself, why didn’t I quit much sooner.
By the way, your work is amazing, keep it up! I consider you the best SF writer alive. Thank you for this superb reading experience. I even recently got audio version of The Frontlines series and I listen to it while doing running workouts – it’s that good. Just thank you, man, you’re the best!
I concur. I pulled the plug 3 years ago.
Bravo Marko! We did just fine before, and we’ll be just fine now. Just words of encouragement, no response necessary.