In 2020 I quit two things: booze and Facebook*. It’s unclear which has a more destructive potential, but both were excellent things to leave in the past. The lockdown had me spending too much time online, getting into dumb spats that don’t matter with people that don’t matter. Then Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism found me at the right time.

Now I just don’t engage. It takes ongoing effort to realize when something I’m choosing to read or watch is simply bad for my mood and to disengage and move on. I don’t always succeed, but when I do, it’s always worth it.

Today’s encouragement to do the same comes from Rebecca Solnit in Lithub. It’s funny and on-the-nose:

Nothing exists but social media. No one does anything offline. So the entire measure of someone’s commitment is how much they post about their commitment. Never mind if the noble cause is their day job, the thing they donate to extensively, the volunteer work they do; only the racket made online matters. Let the beginning and the end of thy commitment be the noise you make about that commitment (and others’ lack of commitment), and make it loud.

One of my principles on this site is to stay positive, to not say mean things, to move on from things I dislike or disagree with rather than post about them**. It’s been excellent for my mental health, family life and I don’t have any post-posting remorse.

*I still have a Facebook account but I deleted it from my phone, and check in maybe once a week from my laptop. My personal instagram still posts to it so people can see photos of my kid and dogs and whatever.

**I don’t always succeed. Sometimes a book bait-and-switches me too hard and I vent. That’s allowed. My house, my rules.