No socials, write more blogs
Not having any socials to scroll through every day, I tend to focus on my blog and write more posts. Last week I had written most of the posts and had them set to publish in the future during my work week. I had time to add a few things to the blog to improve the appearance and navigation.
Having time to visit other blogs to see their cool sites is fun. RSS was convenient but I never experienced the personalities from their sites. Now I get to check out their Now and Use pages too and go through their archived posts.
For example, this post from Alex was very cool. He wrote about the PalmPilot memo app and included an interactive demo he recreated in React. This would have been missed via RSS readers.
I believe RSS has its place for regular news and simple blogs with no themes or extra pages. Some readers are adding features for podcasts and YouTube feeds to play within their apps.
Not only do I have time for reading blogs but I have time to read books instead of scrolling socials. I'm currently cleaning up my ebooks in Calibre to sync with my unsupported Kindle. It is small and fits in my pants back pocket too.
As I do less on my iPhone, some days I wonder if I could go back to my old iPhone SE. But I remember how hard it was for me to read on a small screen as I get older. It was frustrating. But if I have less to read, perhaps I could go back. What concerns me is the process of banking and 2FA authentication apps. The bonus is the SE is still on iOS 18!
Photography is another hobby I want to get back into. I have several film cameras and one digital camera. As much I would like to use the film cameras, I'm struggling to find a place to buy and develop film. If I want to make this a hobby, I believe I should stick with my digital camera to not get frustrated. I know this of me, once there are a couple of roadblocks I tend to lose interest.
As I get back into retro gaming I've researched local stores that carry old games, movies and music. To my surprise there is a store nearby to me and I'm planning to visit it soon. I unboxed some old gaming consoles recently and look forward to setting them all up.
If you are on the fence, try a break for a week from socials and if you feel better, delete the apps and accounts. Start a blog or get back into some old hobbies.