I feel like I achieved this by using a degoogled Android OS + never listening to news. My life is certainly a lot more pleasant being more or less entirely detached from mainstream social media and media in general.
I've done the same, but only for the past few years. I grew tired, emotionally exhausted even, of being bombarded with strongly biased negativity, images of war, brutality, poverty and injustice, NIMBYism and fake outrage - and most of all, at my sense of helplessness against it all. I could do nothing about any of it, and resolved to remove it from my life.
Since I did so, I've been much happier. I can't avoid all news - for example, I see non-tech stuff on HN sometimes, or see Trump's latest nonsense in my Twitter timeline - but with the exception of technical stuff on HN, I never seek it out.
Deleted BBC News, Facebook, and Reddit (unfortunately), just skimming HN for cool tech content every now and again.
I'm feeling a lot better. Leaving my apartment, looking at the blue sky and the bustling people on their way to work. Life feels much better, I'm also not checking my phone as often.
I quit social media two years ago, and pretty much all the point about news also apply to social. It feels soooo good to not care what people say on the internet, it’s remarkable. HN rocks tho ;)
blocked all social media(except HN) and news sites. It truly changed my life, I am not it continuos gloom and doom mood, my mind is in a clam exploration mode rather than some sort of media induced frenzy. I am unable to access some good links to medium from HN but I am willing to pay that price.
I've done this for over 8 months now, never going back to reading "news".Ignorance is bliss.
I’ve limited my social media to a group chat with friends, an entertainment website with discussion, and an informative website with discussion (HN)
I’m no longer absorbed in sensationalist media and I’m no longer angry about some flavor of the week topic. I don’t see ads anymore and I’ve been a lot happier since. Now I can work towards minimizing other unproductive and unfulfilling screen time.
Same, and it feels good. Although I miss engaging in some niche communities from time to time.
Other tips I have: on Android, you can hide certain apps from the app overview and block notifications.
For example, sometimes I want to go on Instagram to look something up (event info for example), but to do so I have to go to settings, list of all apps, find Instagram, click 'open'. This prevents me successfully from mindlessly opening it and getting stuck on the feed for at least half an hour.
I started doing this about a week ago, and it's nice to hear it took you a month, because it's kinda been painful this past week.
I still unlock my phone and look at the homescreen only to realize "oh yeah, I removed that stuff so there's nothing to do here". I'd thought that by removing social/news feeds, I would find something else to do with my thoughts by necessity, but really nothing has replaced the "open phone for 30 seconds to find something briefly entertaining".
I was expecting to be bored, but it's more of a low-level frustration at all times except when I'm focused on something, like I know I could be finding some trivial but interesting thing.
Two years ago I finally cleansed myself of most mainstream news including social media like twitter or facebook, but not things like HN or reddit (specific niche/hobby subreddits, not the main ones).
It's been a huge life improvement. I've been able to let people back into my life that I had mentally cast aside because they had a political opinion I didn't agree with. I talk to my neighbor now whose been wanting to talk to me for years (kinda trumpy, but genuinely good human being who lends me lawncare equipment). I no longer try to fit every person I see into some kind of stereotyped character. People will surprise you when you actually talk to them.
My emotions feel less manipulated by arbitrary news cycle headlines that I can't control. I feel more down to earth. The internet feels smaller and in some ways I feel less connected to people I once did, but I'm realizing now just how superficial those connections always were -- it's far better to be a part of your local community.
Don't get me wrong - I still vote, but my free time is spent on my hobbies and family now. This feels like a healthier way to live.
I cut my news consumption down significantly since the election. I don’t feel any less informed checking in once a week, but I get a lot less anxiety. My life is complicated enough.
Facebook was a big part of that, so it’s gone too. I’m simply more deliberate about what I spend my attention on, and Facebook is junk food.
I killed off Facebook and Twitter years ago, but opted out of the news for the most part when the pandemic kicked off.
I don't really intend to go back.
I skim enough to get a grasp of what's going on about once or twice a day (a la reading the evening paper of yore) but tend to stick to aggregated/curated sources and investigate personal curiosity rather than succumbing to salaciousness and surface-deep echo chambered "news" content about some dumb tweet from some misguided soul.
I am a lighter man, but part of me began to wonder what the cost was: will society pass me by? The longer I have spent operating in this fashion, the less I care.
I find I have so much more empathy, especially for my kids & wife. It has truly given me a fresh outlook, and allowed me to focus on spending my time in ways I actually value.
Removed Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp from my life some years ago, and then promptly blocked them all from my local LAN (also dns sinkhole them on my Android device).
"I felt completely at peace about it as I deleted all my social media apps off my phone, laptop, and iPad."
I had that same feeling when I stopped watching TV and then later, when I switched to GNU/Linux. Both felt like very much like stepping off a treadmill for me.
I've removed most social media from my phone and turned off notifications for anything that I have left. The only thing really allowed to push me notifications at this point is Google Maps. I realized how much more productive I was through out the day without having to constantly check my phone for X social media thing that didn't ultimately matter.
I deleted my Twitter account, removed my Instagram and Facebook apps. I trimmed my Facebook account down to only my local table top gaming groups while deleting friends and family(who aren't associated with previously mentioned groups). I've disabled all notifications on my phone other than SMS(and the people who have my number is a small group). It's greatly reduced the amount of time I spend on my phone(and on social media off the phone too) now that it's not constantly alerting me to look at it. I won't be replacing it with a dumb phone because there are still plenty of times it's a useful tool, but now it's a tool that stays in my pocket until it's actually needed rather than a focus of activity itself.
I stopped browsing general news, unless somebody alerts me to something important. I find that it makes me slightly less annoyed with the world, not sure I am more happy or productive.
But for Twitter and Facebook I found that as long as I unfollow people, mute certain words and otherwise weed out the garden, I am more relaxed, more informed about people I do care about, and I get to see more cool stuff.
But I'm glad your decision worked out for you :)
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