Tomorrow, it will be one week since I deleted all social media.
But let me take you back. During my late high school years, I began to purge what I had once used religiously: Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. I say “religiously” because, well, I grew up completely secular, and one of my main forms of connection and sense of community came through these apps. Jesus, what a disaster – no pun intended!
Still, it wasn’t until three years later that I lit fire on the last one: Snapchat. In primary school, they used to say cool guys don’t look at explosions, but I marvelled at this one. I think a part of me wanted to prove that it’s still possible, that is, to completely unplug, to switch off, to leave what everyone else my age, below and beyond, is using. And yes, I see it firsthand. Have you taken a public transport ride lately? In between inhaling farts and getting nauseous from what feels like a thousand bumps, you’ll notice a sea of bobbling heads, staring quite blankly into their phones.
So, here I stand. I knew I shouldn’t expect a massive shift in my daily life, but I mean, look at me now, writing this ridiculous blog. If this isn’t transcendental, then I don’t know what is! I am either losing my mind or finding it. I am still figuring out which camp I am in. Some might say this change is a contradiction, to leave social media and only adopt another form.
Well, I have something to say to that. Or to you directly, yes you, turning your lip up at this – I mean this with love, I could not care less!
Apologies, I am social media parched, itching at the neck, it is making me act up. But I promise I have justifications for this blog or whatever this is. You see, the truth is, I’m an unexperienced writer, and I don’t mean in the sese that I want to become a writer, jeez slow down! I mean that I need to improve my writing for the sake of the rest of my university degree. If it’s true that writing is thinking, then goodness me, my thinking is diabolical and in desperate need of sharping up.
Now this brings me to the present. I read an article the other day concerning internet traffic and AI websites like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Artificial intelligence assistants are displacing search platforms. Every day, internet users are turning to language models for instant answers, advice, and even therapy.
Gartner predicts global search volume will drop 25 per cent by 2026 as AI tools replace basic queries. In the US, 58.5 per cent of Google searches already end without a single click (James Dore, 2025). Additionally, Apple confirmed in 2025, that Safari-based Google searches have declined for the first time in 22 years.
Why this blog exists
Why is this relevant to me? I’ll tell you: it means I can hide away in some quite corner of the internet. As blogs and personal pages decline, swapped for instant answers, I can use this opportunity to go the opposite way and start one. I might be a rebel, but at least I have purpose. Tongue-in-cheek aside, I genuinely want to improve my writing skills and reconnect with my inner self. And I think doing this blog, if you will, will achieve exactly that.
Going forward into the future, instead of infinitely scrolling my time away, I can dedicate it to something more fruitful, at least for me personally. I can write about topics that are truly important to me, and by doing so, I can see in higher resolution what actually matters, not what social media or my algorithm says I should care about. I can let the compass in my soul turn toward directions naturally. In other words, I can follow my passions uninterrupted and uninfluenced.
These are the reasons why I am writing this blog: to live a more in-tune life with myself, free of social media and its influence. I hope that I will no longer be stuffed into a mould that tricks me into believing that is what I wanted in the first place.
Anyway, I need some air.
See you next time. Take care!
-Kieran 27/05/2025 11:30pm.
References:
James Dore, ‘Google Search is collapsing. Here is how to profit from AI’, 2025.
psyched sundays 