The first 3 days were the worst. Not dramatically awful, just itchy. I'd pick up my phone, remember, and put it down. Then pick it up again out of habit, like my hands had not gotten the memo yet.

I did this experiment last year after a particularly bad evening where I spent 1 hour scrolling without actually reading anything. Just sliding my thumb up the screen, not engaged, not entertained, just doing it. I felt vaguely terrible afterward and could not explain why.

So I deleted the apps. Instagram, X, Facebook, Snapchat. All of it for a week.

What people usually tell you about this kind of experiment is that you'll feel amazing and free. That's partly true. But nobody talks about the first few days, which mostly felt like mild withdrawal. You realize how many times a day you reach for those apps. It's embarrassing, honestly.

By day 5 things started to change. I noticed I had opinions again. Actual ones, not just reactions to whatever the algorithm had fed me that morning. My mood stopped swinging based on what strangers thought about news events. That part was genuinely nice.

I also got bored. Real boredom, the kind you have not felt since childhood. And I'd forgotten that boredom is not actually bad. It is uncomfortable in a productive way. It pushed me to read more, go for longer walks, call my family and friends instead of just liking their posts.

The week ended and I reinstalled all apps. I am not saying social media is evil or that you should quit forever. I do not think in those terms. What I do think is that most of us have never actually chosen to use these platforms. We have just never chosen not to. There's a difference.

The experiment told me something I'd been avoiding knowing. That a lot of what I was calling connection was actually performance. And performance is exhausting to keep up.