I developed a damaging screen addiction that lasted over 10 years.
I started using social media as we know it now when I was 13, in 2009 - I think this was maybe the worst time, as I was one step ahead of my parents and not much was known about the harm to young people at that point. I had been using online messaging platforms and forums from a younger age however; my dad taught me how to use the computer from infancy, and after my parents divorce when I was 8 it became an escape (and something that was consistent between both their houses).
Facebook, Twitter and the advent of smartphones had a huge impact on my mental health and well-being and I developed a damaging addiction that lasted over 10 years. I lost friends, alienated family members and became very introverted, something that is not natural to me. Many of my friends called me “the most online person I know,” up until quite recently! When I was 15 I was targeted by an anonymous troll on Twitter who threatened me and my friends - the platform barely did anything about it and I was too scared to go to the police, plus my parents didn’t really understand why I couldn’t just delete Twitter. I wish I had at that point!
I finally deleted all my accounts in 2022 (age 25) and haven’t looked back. My life has improved drastically and my friendships feel much more enriching now that I don’t see their instagram stories all the time. It took a lot of adjusting and I had to completely change my social life and interactions. It took a long time to get out of the scrolling habit; initially I got hooked on news sites, mobile video games and things like that but over time I managed to increase my IRL activities.
Now I don’t enjoy using the computer much at all and have changed my career to reflect this; instead of comms and marketing I now work in adult social care, which I much prefer! For a long time I felt resentful for being addicted to social media for my entire adolescence but I am more at peace with it now. I still went to uni, made close friendships, lived a life despite it, and it made me who I am today, but I don’t want anyone else to experience it in the way I did.