Use Social Media Mindfully

My rule for 2026 is to limit short-form media. No Twitter/X, no Bluesky, no Mastodon, no Instagram, no TikTok. If it is designed to be short-form (limited characters, quick videos) then it is not for me in 2026.

I had already avoided short-form video but I added short-form text this year.

It is possible for a devoted individual to do this, but it is not possible to solve deep societal problems one devoted individual at a time. We still need massive regulation of addiction-based business models.

Telegram channels are great sources of news and perspectives.

I can "finish" reading my Mastodon timeline because it's not designed to scroll endlessly. Then I read a book.

I just don't do Facebook, any more. It's been ages since I logged in.

I never really did Twitter/Twatter, or anything else.

The closest thing I have to social media, is HN comments.

I'm still on Facebook (and Digg for those HNers that hop on to all the tech boards - you know I see you), but it's to keep up with some family that are there. But I adopted a simple catchphrase (GET OFF THE INTERNET) and time my posts for Sunday mornings to get all them folks that were waking up and immediately scrolling. Repeat that for a few weeks, and I think its helped give people the "please disconnect" message.

I'm a huge wrestling and movie dork, so... screens. And the embedded videos on Reddit didn't help since I could watch wrestling on /r/SquaredCircle rather than support the product I like. In conversations, I've blamed The Walking Dead, as that was the first show I recall encouraging people to "hop online to chat" while the new episodes aired. Then "live tweeting" became a thing and here we are.

Friends and family are still there, but they've at least gone from the "grow your business online" or "complain about politics" to talking about the NFL, or a painting they finished, or some music piece they're working on.

I still want to disconnect more, but we don't really have a cure for "shiny rock addiction" yet.

As much as others seem to hate Snapchat, I seem to avoid all the fake news because its just friends on snapchat.

Strava is pretty great too. No fake news on there.

4Chan? Well, I doubt any company wants to get caught astroturfing on 4chan, but I do think there are government psych-ops on it.

Facebook/IG/Reddit/HN? Dangerous stuff if you are trying to avoid fake news. I'll continue to consume. But I come in highly skeptical.

My mental health improved in meaningful ways when I dropped all social media close to a decade ago. Now I can feel the impact when someone insists I look at some shared item they sent me on Instagram or whatever. I´d rather not return to algorithm-driven services if I can avoid them.

It is such a relief to see someone say you do not have to delete your accounts to be healthy. I find myself opening these apps purely out of habit when I am bored or anxious. The idea of pausing to ask yourself why you are logging in is something I definitely need to try.

Is it possible to use cocaine mindfully?

I encourage you to compare using YouTube with videos on the right hidden. It will disturb you how easily they can trick you to click.

Intstagram and friends are far, far worse.

Shameless plug for the thing I built: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46672734 - meepr, basically not algo driven (except the hashtags are curated), no recommendations etc, if you wanna "grow" on it, you need to tell your friends like the good old days. It's just run by me, not planning on having it run by anyone else, if people like it I'll add a subscription to cover the server cost. (check out the retro theme!! :))

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When I left Twitter and Reddit there felt like a loss of what those sites used to be. The sites I replaced them with are off-ramps, I'm not letting myself get as engaged with them. If they go bad too, they won't feel like a loss.

> With that said, social media still works for connections. DMs are good. Having actual conversations in comments is good.

No. DMs are not e2ee so you’re allowing an advertising surveillance company to leverage private conversations with friends against you and your friends. It’s also available to federal police WITHOUT A WARRANT. They can data mine it, associate it with your email and phone number, and sell it off to data brokers.

Friends don’t let friends use surveillance platforms.

Delete your instagram and facebook accounts. Today. Refuse to be the honey in the corporate trap that results in your friends and loved ones being placed under surveillance.

TLDR: "I manage my alcoholism by only having two drinks a day."