I'm out

I left social media on January 30th for a very good reason.

I'd just suffered my 7th concussion and screen time is one of the worst things for brain healing (and brain health, circadian rhythm, posture, anxiety, etc.), so I posted a little "I hit my head and need a break" image and signed off until further notice.

Thank goodness I did because this healing journey has been long and is still ongoing. But as I've shared with you before, it's so much easier to type on a very dim screen than it is to look at all of the multiple stimuli coming off of social media channels.

But the plan was to return to social media (mainly instagram) at some point when my brain was ready for it.

Well, that was the plan until this morning.

I got an email from instagram saying "we're sorry you're having trouble logging in" from 4:55am. So despite not having even signed in since January, I decided it would be best to change my password. Immediately after doing so, I got the above image that popped up.

This isn't the first time something I posted went against Instagram's BS "Community Guidelines", but MY GOD they are brash about their reasoning these days, aren't they?

In case we haven't covered this, I do not care what you do. I care ABOUT you, but I do not care about the choices that you make because they are your choices and not mine.

I also want to point out that I LOVE being given (or, more likely, finding) information. I do not like being told what to think or how to feel (which is ALL that the news media has to offer - and I do not care how "fair and balanced" the reporting is purported to be. It's all freaking biased and coming with an agenda (all of the major media outlets are actually owned by only six companies; all of them are paid for by advertising dollars, which means that the biggest controller of media is the pockets of those who stand to gain if the "news" is giving you information that leans toward them making more money or they will pull said advertising dollars and the station will go under and everyone working there will be out of a job).

So if I share a snippet from a research article (I honestly don't remember what this story that I shared was, but the only stuff I ever shared about the v words were evidence based) that then gets flagged as "false information" regarding healthcare choices when it is my life's work to empower patients to make educated healthcare decisions about themselves, their body, and their family, I'm a little peeved. Yes, that was all one sentence.

And I'm drawing a line in the sand.

I won't be returning to Instagram.

With that being said, as soon as I get the email with the data download that I requested (because when you signed the User Agreement, you agreed that you do not own your posts and comments and videos - Instagram does), I will post one last time to invite any of my followers who haven't made their way into this newsletter to do so.

And then I'm out.

I know a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with social media, but I believe it is what you make of it in general. I love the connectivity of social media. I love the ability to share ideas. I love the psychology of the ever-evolving dynamics of human and/or algorithm interaction that informs the way people behave.

But I hate censorship. Especially when it's literally causing the death of untold numbers of people. I am not exaggerating. If you don't think it is, then I urge you to listen to the (very long) "Emergency Podcast" that Joe Rogan did last week. Information that could save lives is being withheld from the public. You need to know about it (the information AND the censorship).

So for those of you whom I told I'd be returning to social media at some point, I'm sorry for that misinformation that I shared. (Somehow I don't think Instagram would flag that one, despite their ongoing commitment to prevent the spread of false information.)

I have no idea if I'll return to a social media platform at any point soon because my brain isn't interested in that as it still has healing to do, but for now, it's a firm no on Instagram for sure. Newsletters will continue, so unsubscribe now if you hate hearing from me because I definitely won't be censoring myself. ;-)

xox
Lindsay