An Exodus...

I'm 18 months sober. From social media. Two Octobers ago, I left for good. For some folks, it felt sudden. But leaving social media was something I was feeling called to do for a very long time. God was drumming a vision into my heart. A vision that could not play out without releasing chains first. The vision was personal connection. It was going back. Starting from scratch. At first, it was inconvenient. And sometimes lonely. Isolating even.

After talking with a good friend about my frustrations, I realized the problem. I know how desperately in-person connection is needed. But very few around me realize how much they need it. Because most are still connected through social media. And that virtual connection has become normal. It has become enough. Enough to fill the void of connection. Like a blister on our heel that keeps getting rubbed by the shoes that never fit quite right. Instead of throwing the expensive shoes out, we keep replacing the bandage that pads the wound that never heals. The discomfort has become worth it. We've even told ourselves, it's not so bad. Maybe we've forgotten what it was like before...

Back in 2015, when everyone was losing their minds (including myself) over the impending election, I found myself stepping away from social media for the first time since I very reluctantly joined back in 2006. I was only on Facebook at the time, but I quickly found it had become a social lifeline over the years. In the 3 years I was away from social media, I felt perhaps the people "in my life" had completely forgotten about me. No one remembered my birthday or called or visited. I realized, I had no real-life friends anymore. It was a lonely time. So, instead of putting in the effort to make real-life connections, I decided to return...

In late 2018, I very reluctantly returned to social media via Instagram this time. A friend insisted it was different. Just a few years ago, Instagram was vastly different than what it has molded into today. It was mostly beautiful photos of places and vacations and life backgrounds and short, simple hashtags. It was relatively tame compared to other social platforms. Not long after I joined, though, something changed dramatically. It was rapidly taken over with selfies and influencers and politics and advertisements and long dramatic captions and giveaways and whispers of something called an algorithm that was slowly being integrated.

Not to mention, for a solid year, most social media platforms participated in an aggressive censorship campaign no one had ever seen in our lifetime. Terms like "home remedies" and "natural medicine" were wiped out of search engines completely and replaced with links to "Covid" vaccine propaganda. Later, we found governments around the world, including our own, were behind the censorship. Truth-tellers and believers of the First Amendment, folks speaking out against things like "Covid", vaccines, big pharma, hospitals, CDC, and even those that spoke against the Democratic party, were threatened, demonetized, blurred out, warned repeatedly, put in social media timeout and even eliminated from social media in a blink of an eye. We were gas-lighted, divided, abused, persecuted, and silenced via social media; and yet we stayed. Not only did we stay, but we took the monsters back like no major trauma had just happened to us or to those who spoke out for the ones too afraid to speak up themselves.

Social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, are fake, synthetic, cyber worlds. It is a wolf disguised as a sheep. It is a propaganda machine. It is a place to solely influence. And the influence is so vast, we have no idea what we really like, what we really think, what is really true, or who we really are anymore. Now that I am outside looking in, I can see it as place where people go to get away from their own reality. Social media will never be reality. It can't touch real life. Although, it tries and has many fooled into thinking it is a mere screen away from someone else's real life. It isn't.

I wanted off social media the whole time I participated in it. But it really is a drug. Not the kind you ingest through the mouth or inject in the arm, but the kind you absorb through the eyes. It makes you feel good when you're in it. But the moment your eyes are detached from it, that high seems to fade within minutes. That's why one could look around and see everyone glued to their phones on any given day. We're all a bunch of junkies. As a friend of mine, who also left social media, said, "It's a dopamine hit." The scrolling, the likes, the comments, private messages. She's right. Several studies have been done on the impact of social media on the human brain. Feel free to look up those studies for yourself. It's terrifying.

So, how did I break free? Honestly, it was somewhat difficult to step away. Like many, I believed I needed it. As a connection to others and for my business to be successful. As much as I despised social media, still I was addicted. My big push came when I opened my business account in 2022. I quickly found that business accounts are more subject to the algorithm. In order to use these free marketing tools, you must play the game. If you play the game well, you can attain a warped version of success. If you drop the ball, go back to start, sorry! The game was utterly exhausting. It rules you. It controls you.

Thankfully, I was blessed The Lord woke me up to see that this was all false. I didn't need social media to connect or to be successful. I knew deep down it was holding me back from real success and it was stealing my time, joy, and real life connections. Many other business accounts, including the well-intention influencer accounts, are so deep into the murk and mire that is social media, I'm not sure they know that they are slaves to it. What makes me and a minority of others different? The desperate desire for freedom. I long for freedom in every aspect of my life. I need it like air. And social media was making it harder and harder for my soul to breathe. It was killing me slowly.

I was spending a mere few hours a day throughout the day and into bedtime scrolling, checking in, creating content, conversing with strangers, and just wasting precious time on social media. When I wasn't on it, I subconsciously thought about it. I looked at my phone more than I looked into my children's eyes. I had a hard time putting the phone down and really listening to them. I tried to be intentional with them. But the drug got more of me; even in my best efforts to detach from it. I realized that one day their memories wouldn't be filled with me playing with them, being silly, reading a book, or sitting on the front porch swing witnessing heaven as the sun sat over a farm field. It would be me, dulled-faced, staring at the illuminated drug in my hands.

So here I am. Near 2 years later from my social media exodus. Reading tons of books, writing more, engaging with my children, having real conversations with my husband, growing our food and medicine, immersing myself in my community, noticing strangers, growing tremendously in faith, watching the seasons change, the sun rise in the mornings, and marveling at the stars each night. I find myself having more time each day. Days that used to feel chaotic and wasted. I cook and bake and clean. I've even had time to finally organized our entire house.

The biggest difference...I have joy. Daily joy. Like noticeable joy. (Possibly obnoxious joy.) Things that used to feel hard or overwhelming, are now easy and feel more like blessings. My mind, body, and spirit feel whole again. Things feel slower. Simpler. Real.

Was it hard? Not as much as I thought it was going to be. Will I go back? Never again. Was it worth it? You have no idea.

~Casey G.

Owner & Shopkeeper