I haven't engaged with social media in a long time. I don't open Twitter. I don't browse Instagram. I don't scroll LinkedIn. I don't click "one more article" on news sites.
At first it was hard. My hand reached for the phone. The "I wonder what happened?" curiosity crept in. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) was real.
Then I noticed something: I'm not missing anything.
The world keeps turning. Important news reaches me somehow. My friends are still my friends. And most importantly: I'm producing more than I have in years.
The Cheap Dopamine Economy
Our brains seek dopamine. This is an evolutionary fact—dopamine directs us toward things that keep us alive (food, reproduction, social bonds).
Social media hacked this system.
Every like is a dopamine drop. Every notification is a dopamine drop. Every new post, every comment, every retweet... Drop by drop, constantly, an endless stream.
Here's the problem: this is cheap dopamine. Accessible with minimum effort, instantly, in unlimited quantities.
And a brain accustomed to cheap dopamine stops wanting expensive dopamine.
What is expensive dopamine? Solving a hard problem. Finishing a project. Writing an article. Building a product. These also give dopamine—but after hours, days, weeks. They require effort. They involve uncertainty. There's risk of failure.
The brain thinks economically: "Why struggle for hours? I could just open Twitter and get dopamine immediately."
That's the trap.
Boredom: A Lost Art
When was the last time you were bored?
Truly bored—without checking your phone, without watching something, without reading something, just sitting empty?
You probably don't remember. Because we don't give ourselves the opportunity to be bored.
Waiting in line: phone. Eating: video. In the bathroom: news site. Before sleep: social media. First thing when waking: social media.
Every empty moment is filled. Every silence is covered with noise. Every moment of boredom is escaped.
But boredom is valuable.
When you're bored, the brain starts searching for other things. Thoughts connect to each other. Ideas emerge. Creativity is born in silence.
Newton was bored under the apple tree when he thought of gravity. Archimedes was bored in the bath when he said "Eureka!" Einstein was working a boring job at the patent office when he developed relativity theory.
Great ideas are born in emptiness. But if we don't leave emptiness, we don't leave room for ideas either.
My Own Experience
I developed plugged.in in 10 months. 14 repositories. Thousands of lines of code. Dozens of blog posts. Federation architecture. Revenue model.
I couldn't have done this while addicted to social media.
Because this kind of work requires deep work. What Cal Newport calls "Deep Work": uninterrupted, focused, sustained concentration.
What deep work requires:
- 2-4 hour uninterrupted blocks
- Focus on a single problem
- Absence of external stimuli
- Mental energy reserves
Social media sabotages all of these:
- Every notification is an interruption
- Attention is constantly fragmented
- External stimulus bombardment
- Mental energy spent on cheap dopamine
When I quit social media, I "gained" 2-3 hours a day. But that wasn't the real gain. The real gain: the quality of the remaining hours improved. Continuous flow instead of fragmented attention. Deep dives instead of shallow browsing.
"But Won't I Become Disconnected from the World?"
This is the most common fear. "Without social media, how will I follow the news? How will I catch trends? Won't I become disconnected from the world?"
Here's what I discovered: you don't become disconnected.
Really important news reaches you. Friends tell you. It's shared in the family WhatsApp group. It comes up in work meetings. It shows up when you Google something.
The things you don't learn? Unimportant things. Which celebrity said what. Which tweet went viral. Which controversy became the agenda.
Look back after 6 months: 99% of the things you "missed" aren't remembered by anyone. Because they weren't important.
Social media is a machine for making unimportant things seem important. Every day a new "crisis," a new "scandal," a new "event." Forgotten the next day, replaced by something new.
Once you step out of this cycle, you realize: most of the world is noise. Signal is very rare. And signal reaches you without social media.
Practical Steps
"Okay, I'm convinced. How do I do it?"
1. Turn Off Notifications (All of Them)
Turn off all notifications on your phone. WhatsApp, email, social media, news apps—all of them.
"But what if something urgent happens?" If it's truly urgent, they'll call. They won't text, they'll call.
2. Delete the Apps
Delete social media apps from your phone. You can access from the web "if needed"—but going through the browser requires extra effort. This friction breaks automatic behavior.
3. Change the Morning Ritual
Most people check their phone first thing when they wake up. This means starting the day in "reactive" mode—other people's agenda determines your agenda.
Alternative: first hour phone-free. Coffee, thinking, planning. Start with your own priorities, not others' noise.
4. Allow Boredom
You're waiting in line. Don't reach for the phone. You're in the elevator. Don't reach for the phone. You're waiting while cooking. Don't reach for the phone.
Just... wait. Stay with your thoughts. Look around. Be bored.
Uncomfortable at first. Then liberating.
5. Set "Check Hours"
If cutting completely feels hard, set 1-2 "check hours" per day. For example: 15 minutes at lunch break, 15 minutes in the evening.
Outside these hours, it's forbidden. When the time comes, you check—and probably see nothing "urgent" happened.
Creativity Needs Silence
When did my most valuable ideas come?
- In the shower (no phone)
- While walking (phone-free walk)
- In the dark before sleep (no screen)
- On long car trips (alone)
Common thread: silence and emptiness.
If the brain is constantly stimulated, it can't process in the background. The subconscious can't make connections. Creativity can't find opportunity.
Social media addiction isn't just time loss. It's creativity loss. Potential loss. Moving away from the person you could be.
Being "Boring" Is a Superpower
Not being active on social media might seem "boring." No posts. No likes. No "digital presence."
But this "boringness" is actually a superpower.
Because attention is the scarcest resource. And where you spend your attention determines who you become.
If you spend your attention on social media: you become someone watching others' lives, consuming others' ideas, reactive to others' agendas.
If you spend your attention on your own work: you become someone who produces, creates, builds.
When I started plugged.in 10 months ago, I made a choice: producer or consumer?
The answer was clear.
Conclusion: Being Able to Be Bored Is a Luxury
In the modern world, being able to be bored is a luxury. Unlimited "entertainment" access is available anytime, anywhere. Getting bored requires conscious effort.
But this luxury is also the most valuable investment.
A person who can be bored can think. A person who can think can create. A person who can create can change.
I wish you days of boredom.
Days when your phone's battery dies, when the internet goes out, when there's "nothing" to do.
On those days, you'll be alone with yourself. You'll face your thoughts. And maybe—maybe—in that silence, an idea that will change your life will be born.
Quit cheap dopamine. Choose expensive concentration.
Be bored. Create. Produce.
Social media will still be there tomorrow. But today is passing.