Life is Better After Ditching Facebook & Twitter Apps

We have all had this happen. You need to send a text to someone and you open up your phone. When it comes up you see that red bubble with a number on your Facebook or Twitter app.

"Ooh! What's new there?" you think, completely forgetting you needed to send your spouse a text about something halfway important.

So you tap the app and read up on the notifications, go through the same old random posts that are about 30 percent interesting, and ten minutes later try to go back to what you were doing and forget to send that text. Then you remember and essentially repeat the process.

A few weeks ago I realized that I was spending a stupid amount of time on Facebook and was usually not getting anything useful out of it, not even mindless entertainment. So I had the thought to move the app to the last page of apps on my iPhone. I don't get a lot of notifications from Facebook, because I have always kept them locked down. But the little red bubble with the little white number in it always caught my eye. It got me to tap on it more than a few times when I wasn't really looking to find out what was happening.

As I write this at 3:42 pm on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, I have only spent 11 minutes on the Facebook app. I've spent more time, 13 minutes, on the Lists To-Do app, which is just a simple checklist app that I use to keep track of tasks I need to get done from day-to-day.

As for Twitter, I completely removed the app from my phone. It's such a cesspool of s***-talking that I could not take it anymore. I still have my account. I'm not sure why. I strongly dislike the environment on Twitter.

Instagram I haven't really changed how I use that app because I usually just sit down and check it out for a fair amount of time each evening before bed, or if I'm waiting for kids at activities and I'm killing time. I have no notifications except for messages.

Think for a moment about the social media apps you use. Are they even fun? Most of them aren't for me anymore. But I was in the habit of using them so I did. Now I'm breaking the habit and I'm getting more done and in a better mood more often. Give it a whirl. You might like it.

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