It’s now been a year and a half since I cancelled Facebook

It’s still weird. I still haven’t changed my mind.

You’re reading Making This up as I Go from Aden Nepom and the Art of Change—an improvisers thoughts on finding the simple, obvious, meaningful path forward from one moment to the next. Newsletter content is free! Going paid unlocks premium subscription features like our once-a-month Zoom, and Monthly Clickables a rundown of links to the fun, helpful and weird things that capture the author’s attention each month.

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Hello Dear Reader!

Quick reminder: I’m on a much needed vacation for another week. While I’m gone, I’m sharing reposts of some of my greatest hits from the past.

The piece you’re about to read was one of the first things I ever shared on Substack.

At that point I had 30 subscribers. I now have more than 1200, which means you may have missed the original post. Despite the increased readership, this early piece remains one of my most shared essays to date.

In half of a year has anything changed?

Regarding social media… not much! The desire to share a little bit of everything with everybody all of the time (to borrow from Bo Burnham) is surprisingly strong.

During my vacation I’ve been sharing photos, videos, commentary and ‘seconds’ with my intimate network of friends and family via Marco Polo, and have been doing so at a rate of roughly 5-15 posts per day. More than I ever shared on Facebook.

So if you’re considering leaving Facebook, it’s worth noting that if you’re a regular participant, the rewiring of your brain does not revert back to pre-Facebook function the minute you click cancel.

For more of my observations on what happens when you leave Meta, click below to read the original piece (while my husband breathes a sigh of relief for my return to our vacation).