Back in August of 2021, after the infamous Musket talk (anybody in the LDS LGBTQ+ space will know what I mean), I had a moment of reckoning. At the time I was serving as Social Media Specialist and Digital Content Coordinator for the National Communications Council (formerly known as Public Relations) for the LDS church in Norway. I was in charge of the official Social Media channels in Norway; Facebook and Instagram, as well as the local pages in the Liahona monthly magazine and on the official website. I had been serving in that capacity since late 2014. It had been entertaining, exhausting, frustrating, and quite the learning experience. I had also recently started an LDS themed podcast - not as a part of my calling, but because I wanted to.
I prided myself in creating thoughtful and faithful content, and responding in a timely manner to comments and DMs. When Covid-19 hit, all the digital channels ramped up activity, both centrally and locally, and I tried to keep up.
I became very disheartened though, whenever I was reading the comments sections of official and non-offical church related sites. Our oldest daughter had come out to us earlier that year, and although I had always considered myself an ally, I was now thrown in to a whole new space at the intersection of LGBTQ+ issues and the church I had loved and served for so long.
It was simply heartbreaking to read the vitriol from my fellow saints towards the LGBTQ+ community, and the unflinching defense of church leaders and church policies and even doctrines that were clearly hurtful.
Almost at the same time, the prophet and president of the church, a former physician, publicly encouraged members to wear masks and be vaccinated. The comment sections were awful. This time decrying the stance taken by church leaders.
After a few days of rage and frustration, I asked to be released from my calling( first time ever!) as SoMe specialist, and I swiftly started unfollowing EVERYBODY on Facebook. Not unfriending, just unfollowing. I simply didn’t want to know what my brothers and sisters in the church thought or believed anymore. I wanted blissful ignorance. The only accounts I continued to follow were various support groups I belonged to, a few carefully selected news outlets and a few special interest accounts, like mending or curly hair or podcasts. My feed became palatable again. For a while.
I was not as vigilant on Instagram, but I probably should have been. The algorithms gradually turned my feed in to a mormon feminist, funny cat video, home improvement heaven - and then hell - when the ads became relentlessly ubiquitous and I was asked to create a reel every time I posted a story. No. I just want to share a funny meme, thank you very much.
Twitter was lovely - for years, especially the Mormon adjacent content. Then Musk ruined it, and once the little blue bird no longer appeared when I updated the app, I quit cold turkey. No regrets.
I migrated to Bluesky and eventually Substack, but I missed a lot of people, and a few followers. I was never an influencer or had much reach, and yet… Also, I felt like I had to keep using Facebook and Instagram to promote my podcast. (How else does one promote a podcast, honestly?)
Well.
Here we are in 2025, and I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t support Zuckerberg. I can’t stomach all the ads. I can’t cope with the absence of fact checking. I can’t deal with his pandering to the orange menace (aka he whose name shall not be mentioned.) I cannot justify spending so much time on Social Media and letting my capacity to focus and read just go to the dogs. The Gaza genocide had me doomscrolling for hours, and then feeling guilty if I wasn’t constantly updating myself on the situation. It simply wasn’t good for my mental health.
So the last couple of weeks, I have ditched META. Well - soft ditched META.
The Facebook app has been off my phone for years - I can only access it on my desktop. Now I have removed it from my bookmarks bar. I’m keeping the Instagram app on my phone, but hidden. Threads too.
The podcast is in hibernation because my co-host is too busy to record, so there is nothing to promote right now.
And what is it like?
Well, I’ve reduced the time spent on my phone by more than 50%. I suddenly have loads of time to read long form stuff and listen to more podcasts. And I can access all the news I want by going directly to their web editions. I have also discoverd that most of my favorite people to follow on Instagram are actually right here on Substack! As an added bonus I’m spending less money because I’m not being sucked in to ads all the time.
Will I eventually have the nerve to delete my accounts completely? I don’t know. Will it affect META at all that little old me has kind of jumped ship? Maybe not. But if enough of us spend less time there, it will.
I feel almost giddy rediscovering OG bloggers and writers with an online presence outside of META. I am even willing to subscribe and pay to access their content. I’m still spending way less than before. No Buy 2025? Yes. Subscriptions not included.
And I’m pretty sure it’s not just me.
That was a sort of interesting read.
Interesting... because it's you, and you are a highly interesting person;
only "sort of" because there were no surprises.
Many years ago, when I was just discovering the Internet, my son taught me the formula:
"An internet account+Anonymity= Dickhead."
As you point out, the anonymity part is less important these days, but given that for thousands of years, homo sapiens communicated largely in more direct ways. Meaning that the responses were were more immediate.
On-line expression and communication has removed the immediacy of the reactions. This allows people to say/write things which previously they would have maybe NOT expressed.
I will however always read anything written by Jojo - because its you!