Leaving social media wasn't the trick, reducing digital consumption was
I was never that into social media, I forgot constantly to create accounts to all things.
But what was there was distracting me. It made me worse at everything else and stopped me from getting things done.
So, some years ago, I deleted all the accounts I had. It was good, but it wasn't enough.
My problem was, and is, consumption. Unchecked, unfiltered consumption of things.
Because there are so many things! If left unchecked, I feel like I could go on forever if I didn't had things to do. That's not what I want in my life!
As I understand it, there is this thing called the default mode network. It activates when you don't do things. Left to daydream and to wander, the mind builds it's sense of self. (Editing to add: this is not completely true. This is the self-construction hypothesis that asserts this, but it's not entirely understood. This is what I was referencing but I did it wrong sorry.)
But my thought is that one establishes one-self in the world when doing things. Origami, drawing, cooking, walking some routes, hanging out - all of these build and establish one self not only to you but to the world around. (Editing to add: I have no proof of this. It's my lived experience. My theory relating to the previous part about the DMN is that the more things you do the more material you give your brain to build your identity. No proof for any of this though.)
Passive unchecked consuming not only makes me distracted and less prone to focus. It makes me less me. Less of the things I like doing and more a statistic.
If only I could tell how to escape this and to be. But I don't know. I know deleting social media is a very good step, and likely the most significant one. But it's not enough. It's important to reduce in general consumption around, and to start doing things. At least for me I think.