In May, I stepped off the social media. What began as a one-week break stretched into two, then three—not because I was disciplined, but because life intervened. A work deadline loomed. My novel rewrite demanded attention. And suddenly, I realized: I didn’t miss it. Not the endless scroll, not the performative posting, not the algorithmic whiplash of cooking hacks, feminist theory, and celebrity gossip (seriously, Instagram, I do not care about the Met Gala).
For weeks, I’d been using every free moment trying to "keep up"—posting two articles and a blog weekly, churning out reels, maintaining a presence on Bluesky and LinkedIn. My creative energy was fractured. I wasn’t able to really focus on any one thing. The more I posted, the less I created. My writing became flat, I bored myself. And the noise! Absorbing hundreds of videos and posts each week feels relentless. The churning content mill, starts to feel eerily similar—not quite real, not quite fake, just... samey. Like being trapped in an elevator playing remixed versions of the same three songs forever.
During my SM detox, something unexpected happened: my brain quieted. The constant hum of "shoulds" (should post, should engage, should share a friend’s story) faded. I stopped reflexively reaching for my phone during idle moments. I sat with my own thoughts—no wondering how to rehash an idea to post in 5 different ways, no metrics, just me and work that I find important. That work, I realise, might …
Published: 07.06.2025
Full blog post: https://art4marax.substack.com/p/remaining-human-in-a-world-of-algorithms