I quit social media in Musings

If you don’t know, I have an Instagram account called iquitchristianity where I talk about my process of deconverting from Christianity. A couple weeks ago I got a rude, creepy message which set off a chain of events resulting in me deleting Facebook and my personal Instagram account. Weirdly I decided to keep the iquitchristianity account but decided to take a full 30 day break.

I am half way through and it’s been a mixed bag. I do feel less anxious and more centered. I don’t feel like I have been any more productive but that wasn’t really the point of doing this. I really wanted to see what it did to my depression and anxiety levels. It seems like I keep social media around to enjoy that little bit of good while wading through a whole lot of shit.

I miss absolutely nothing about Facebook. The only thing I used it for was groups but lately that became too overwhelming. I do miss certain things about Instagram. I miss the memes. And certain accounts that do educational videos or just funny story content.

I thought for a while that I wanted to turn my iquitchristianity account into something more like a podcast or YouTube channel. But I just don’t think it’s going to be for me. It can almost re trigger my religious trauma to be in that world. As much as I appreciated and valued all those accounts a year and half ago when I started this journey, I have needed some distance.

As far as the awful, abusive comments I was getting, I realize there isn’t much I can do about that. When you talk about religion and politics on the internet you’re going to get pushback. This particular message was scary because they seemed to know things about my personal life which is why I freaked out and deleted lots of stuff. People say stuff like “don’t let the trolls get to you” But I just don’t think I can ever be a person who isn’t effected by that kind of shit.

I don’t think quitting social media is a huge life changing experience or anything (especially since I had already been using it sparingly for 8 months or so) but I do think when I get back on I will be much choosier about what I engage with and instead of just scrolling I will be more intentional about seeking out what I want to see.

I’ll update more at the end of the 30 days. It’s been a weird time over here being snowed in for a week. Hope everyone is surviving the wild weather alright.