An early adopter, that's what they call people like me. I joined the internet in 1993. The first two words I typed into what passed as a search engine were
Coronation Street. Well, I was a huge fan of the show. There was no ITV site, no social media, nothing at all, just fans on noticeboards posting comments, linking up around the world. And so I joined in, posting comments, and writing the Coronation Street
weekly updates from 1995. I met other Corrie fans around the world, in person at fan events, it was fun while it lasted. I also set up and still run the
Coronation Street Blog.
Then the internet began to change.
It became commercial. As a user I was targeted by ads for things I neither understood, liked or wanted. However, I persevered with the internet. It was Groundbreaking! Exciting! New! You could find out what you wanted to know, at the touch of a key, a button, an app! Who wouldn't want that? Well, not me, anymore.
Things started to go bad with
Instagram on my phone. I knew immediately when I started to use it that I found it too addictive. It was causing me anxiety, giving me jitters. I knew I didn't want that in my life. I didn't want to have my emotions and wellbeing tweaked by colours and pictures and sounds on my phone. This wasn't real life. I took the app off my phone and only look at Instagram on my PC once a day, which gives a limited view of what's going on. I'm fine with that, now. It doesn't give me the grief it once did.
Then came the problem with
Facebook reels.
As a bestselling author, I have an author page on Facebook as well as my personal one. Switching between the two on my phone caused crashes which resulted in being locked out of my account. This was stressful enough, but then Facebook reels began.
The reels were disturbing. "You too can have your lips big and botoxed like mine, here's how!". Well, you get the gist. I didn't want to see this rubbish, have it shoved in front of my eyes, my mind, my life. But I couldn't stop the reels or turn them off. They were positioned at the top of my author page, so every time I looked at it, I saw these dreadful reels. Of course I messaged Facebook support and if I ever hear back from them (I won't), I'll let you know (I won't.). Then the reels got worse. Violence and misogyny were commonplace. I took Facebook off my phone and now, like Instagram, only view it once per day on my PC. I still have reels suggested for me. One of today's hideous three suggested reels was "See my husband's reaction when I told him a guy did my bikini wax!" but they're easy enough to 'hide' although they're still suggested every day for me to view. Violence, misogyny and big botoxed lips. Every. Single. Day.
Then came the problem with Twitter when Elon Musk bought it and sold us all out. I love Twitter and enjoy it a lot. But I've now taken it off my phone due to the amount of ads I see. I don't want ads for things I will never buy, placed in front of my eyes, in my head, in my brain, in my life.
If I'm making it sound easy taking apps and social media off my phone, it's not. I've been twitchy and itching to reinstall Facebook for months. However, I've got to persevere because I know I'm going 'cold turkey' right now and have to get through this. After years of checking, tapping, swiping my phone on social media feeds, I've got to get used to not doing this any more. I'm finding puzzle books help instead when I have a moment to myself that I'd usually waste swiping and tapping my phone.
And the final straw was Google calendar. I used the local calendar on Google on my phone. I relied on it. It had everything in there. Birthdays, appointments, author talks, holidays. You name it, it was there. And then my phone updated with a new version of Android, wiping the local calendar. It's gone. Everything has gone. Of course I messaged Google support and if I ever hear back from them (I won't), I'll let you know (I won't.). Fortunately, I had everything backed up. Not in the Cloud, not on the web, not on an app, but in my Filofax.
Well, that's me done now. Off to spend the rest of the day working in the garden, then you might find me with a puzzle book.
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