I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone and iPad a couple of months ago and I’m suffering very little FOMO.
Weirdly, I still find myself staring, puzzled, at my screen several times a day, swiping mindlessly through pages of apps. I check my emails and news websites far more often than I need to, but I’m still saving potentially hours of time I would have wasted scrolling through social media. I miss surprisingly little on there. One thing is posts from doggy day care, which is usually a Tuesday highlight. My daughter also showed me a video the other day, posted my someone with an interest in architecture, about our neighbourhood in Kelburn. There was a brief mention of our house and its arts and crafts style, including the historic tiles (c2024). Apparently three friends had forwarded the post to her, saying “Wasn’t this your old house?” I asked her to forward the video to me but alas, it’s on Instagram so I can’t see it.
Perhaps one day I might be able to reinstall the apps and not abuse them. But I fear that time has not yet come. So, what am I doing with all my newfound free time? Good question. Certainly I’ve made no headway with the novel. Maybe I’m just being more mindful, but I’m not really convinced. I’m trying to do more French on Duolingo, since we’re doing a road trip in Northern France later in the year (WW3 permitting) but so far it’s not a statistically significant increase. A mystery.
