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Why I chose to delete ALL of my Social Media Accounts

I have chosen to delete ALL of my social media accounts, not suspend, delete.
I choose not be part of the machine that is creating so much wealth for some and costing many so much lost time and stress.

The endless scrolling.
The anxiety that is created around how many people see a post.
The grief I see when people cannot access their account from a lost password.

The deliberate and hypnotic algorithms coded into these platforms to keep users engaged and infinitely scrolling is disturbing.

I reject the “deepfakes” that AI is now creating and posting on social media platforms. I will not support the AI learning from my personal data.

And most importantly I reduce my digital footprint a little more. I remove another chink in my digital security. Every day I see a message from a FB friend that has been hacked, had their account stolen, one step closer to identity theft.

I understand the power of these platforms to reconnect with people we may have lost touch with. I too have harnessed that power, old friendships from 30 years ago rekindled, but at what cost to me? I had connected to people far away at the cost of those closest to me.

This does not mean I am saying goodbye from technology, far from it. Those that know me well will understand this, I am a technologist at heart. My whole life spent in technology has entrenched the value we as humans can perceive from technology.

In and of itself, technology is awe inspiring in what it can assist us with.

I just choose to step away from the distractions and illusions that technology has created. I choose discernment over how I spend my online time, productivity and learning. Leveraging technology to make a living to support myself, my family and the charities I wish to support.

Big tech is deliberately creating platforms which are complex, addictive and devalue individuals in all areas of their life.

This is a conscious choice big tech has made. Greed over humanity. They could change their platforms to be pro-human and against greed, at any time, with a simple programming code change, and perhaps install a more complex consciousness update for those at the helm of Big Tech.

I see life getting so complicated for us all. And I am stepping away from condoning this complication, and taking my power back from those tech giants I gave it to all those years ago.

I choose to walk in nature with no devices, to read a book, to engage in real life with real people, watch a concert through my own eyes and not a 6-inch screen. To not be distracted by a “Moose using a chainsaw” (insert random meme here).

Ever Wondered where last the hour went while you a on your phone with a social media app? There is a reason for this, and it is more obvious than you may think. They have designed it this way. Here is a little bit of insight to read. There is plenty more to read if you do a little online searching – https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/why-we-cant-stop-scrolling/1/

Keep liquids away from your laptop!  It sounds like a great idea, grab your favourite Tea, Chai or Coffee and settle in for a screen session to write an email, letter or pay some bills. But this can all become a disaster if you have a little whoopsy at the keyboard and spill your favourite brew on your MacBook Pro. We see the results of this almost every day. And 99.9% of the time, it ends badly. Mac’s and drinks don’t get on!

 Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone – Everything from Voice Over and image zoom for the visually impaired, to High quality FaceTime video for people with low or no hearing. Truly inspiring technology – https://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/