It has been 5 years since I got rid of all of my social media accounts. My friend, Raid, who kicked the apps long before I did, had been pushing me to delete my accounts for a few months at that point, but it was a specific moment of clarity that led me to get rid of all of them.
I had picked up my phone, as I had already done a hundred times that day, and I opened Instagram. I’m not sure what I was looking for. I never really cared about anyone’s posts or stories, yet I kept consuming – and consuming, and consuming. After some mindless scrolling, I swiped up to exit out of the app. I stared at the screen for 5 seconds. Then I tapped on Instagram again.
What the fuck was that?
I felt like Neo in The Matrix. It was a sobering realization that all the little tweaks, A/B tests, and focus groups the Instagram team must’ve ran had worked on me. I felt disconnected from my own mind. The engineers were in control.
I immediately deleted my account.
I also got rid of Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. And now, 5 years later, I have yet to have any desire to go back.
I need to come clean. My dirty secret is that I replaced those apps with Reddit and YouTube (especially YouTube Shorts). The brain rot slowed, but it still raged.
At first, my Reddit and YouTube usage was tame, with the occasional spike to local maxima that eventually faded on its own. But, recently, I hit a global maximum. My brain demanded constant stimulation, and the apps delivered: on my way to work, during lunch, while brushing my teeth, between sets at the gym. Relentless.
I imagine this is what many people are experiencing right now. There are some brilliant minds getting paid lots of money to reverse-engineer your attention. It’s not your fault that you’re losing this battle.
The last straw came about a month ago, when I realized I hadn’t finished a book in six months. I’d tried, but sustained focus, a muscle I’d clearly let atrophy, was gone. So I deleted the apps.
Today, 26 days later, I am happy to report that I have (mostly) reclaimed my attention. I can sit and read for 30 minutes, watch an hour-long episode of a show, and read a technical article from start to finish – all without instinctively picking up my phone. I’m not 100% back, but this is honestly much faster than I had anticipated.
Most sources say that a “dopamine detox” takes 3-6 months, but I think the 80/20 rule is at play here. Even just after a week, I felt significant improvements in my ability to just sit and do nothing. The first three days were the hardest. I would constantly pull my phone out and instinctively tap on where Reddit used to be. That space now belongs to The New Yorker – and my attention feels better spent.
For now, the noise is gone.
8/15/2025