Some time ago, I deleted my Facebook account and took a break from twitter (the
only other social media account I had). Then twitter had a password breach, I
had to reset my passwords, and I logged in again. 

It was weird getting back into it, and I mentioned that I didn't really miss it,
and I didn't really check it much and et cetera. That was back in May. But, as
time went on, I decided that I'd use it to promote a couple of projects I was
working on, 8bit.fun and participating in the Extra Life marathon this past
year. 

The marathon is over, so I don't need to promote it on twitter any more.
Promotion of 8bit.fun is a waste of time (nobody clicks on the links I share).
And that leaves just checking it for random nonsense, which twitter has in
abundance.

And, slowly, I felt myself regressing some, and I realized that social media in
general, and twitter in this specific instance, is negatively affecting me. It's
stealing my time, my attention, and my mental energy. 

This should not be new information to anyone that's studied the effects of
social media.

Having that active tab on my browser calls to me. It beckons for me to check it
to see what's new. To get rid of that 'x new tweets' banner to see what goodies
might be inside (it's almost always nothing). That nagging tug to click on that
tag is surrepticiously nibbling away at my self control.

Checking twitter doesn't take long. A few seconds to a few minutes at a time,
but if I click over to that tab every time I have a down moment or a pause in a
thought or after answering a phone call or any number of things, then those
things add up. The constant task switching is surrepticiously nibbling away at
my time.

In the time that I wasn't checking twitter and facebook and et cetera, I found
that I did read more and I did create more and I did start catching up on my
backlog of *everything*, and since I've been checking it regularly, all of that
stuff slowed down again. The constant nibbling of my self control and free time
has a deleterious effect on my activities.

I could go on, but I think it's pretty clear. Social media is a mistake, and one
that I don't intend to keep on making. So, as of now, I'm putting my account(s)
back into stasis. Will I bring them back out again? I don't know. But what I do
know is that I *do* need to step away for my own sanity.

7 Nov 2018