This one is just a short update. A few years ago, I deleted my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads accounts. This morning, after a nineteen year run there, I’ve added Reddit to that list, having deleting my account there about an hour ago.
And I did so for the same reason as the others: I realized that time spent there was wasted, not utilized. It was a little more difficult, because good conversations can be had there, but as with most other social media, it was just too easy to get drawn into ideological conflicts.
So that’s it: so long, Reddit. You’ve been permanently downvoted. And that leaves me on only two social media networks, ones I’m very likely to keep, even though they’re polar opposites.
The first is my Mastodon account in the Fediverse, which is designed totally differently from other social networks and actually promotes conversation rather than serving up endless outrage to keep people’s attention. If anything, it was difficult to get used to it, because it doesn’t try to keep you doomscrolling—sticking around is entirely up to you.
The second is LinkedIn. I get it, people think of that as just a hub of self-promotion and AI slop, and it’s certainly no paradise. But I have a lot of businessy interests and do a lot of businessy stuff, and that makes it the only social media network where I see posts that actually tell me things I didn’t know that might help me reach my goals. So it stays, at least as long as that remains true.