For a long time now we've been slowly connecting ourselves to friends, strangers, to corporations, and even to fake individuals. All of these services that connect us with each other, they are all taking advantage of us. Your information is being sold to the highest bidder in order to sell you things that you don't need, to get you to consume more.
It has been slow con: a war of attrition. As Thoreau said, “But lo! men have become the tools of their tools.” We're now so deep into maintaining these shallow connections that it's hard to see the path out or muster up the courage to leave it all behind.
Cast off the shackles of social networking, be beholden to nothing but thyself, cultivate meaningful relationships, go forth and explore this world in a manner in which you may look fondly back on when you are of old age.
Is how much time humanity spends on Facebook every day. That's 19,963.9 man-years. source
The amount of time the average teen speeds social networking. source
The average amount of texts a 14-17 year old will send and receive. source
Delete yourself.
Take the plunge and delete your presence social media websites. Sometimes this can be hard due to the use of dark patterns among these websites, but there's help out there for you: Visit JustDelete.me to start the process of deleting yourself.
Restrain yourself.
Even after removing yourself from social media, it can be hard to avoid visiting these websites out of habit. Luckily it's fairly easy to block yourself; just get the free app SelfControl, set the timer, and break the habit.
Spread the word.
Download the set of posters and stick 'em up wherever seems fitting (at work, at school, etc).
