Present

I started working in marketing right as the commercial Internet got started, before the days of Google or social media. It felt like the Wild West back then. We had very questionable ideas and were dumb enough to try most of them. Those early days were so much fun, and we did some questionable and outrageous things to get people's attention - whatever it took. Getting someone's attention felt like a fair fight back then.

Most of my career wouldn't have happened were it not for the great luck of my relentless ambition coming upon very fortunate timing - placing my teams and me at the forefront of trends and channels that grew year over year for a couple of decades.

Here is the thing, though.

It's not a fair fight anymore.

The combination of supercomputers in our pockets, highly refined social algorithms, and cheap AI-generated content makes for an environment that highly favors the corporation over the consumer. I'd venture to say that many, or maybe even most, act more like addicts than rational decision-makers regarding our digital content consumption.

I am an optimist when it comes to technology and the long-term impact it will have on our lives. And I still spend plenty of time staring at screens, no doubt about that.

I used to joke that our use of social media is akin to our grandparents' use of cigarettes. Now, I think social media is worse than smoking. We have gone from people who were hard to distract to being hardly ever not distracted.

We are worried about our kids (AND SHOULD BE), but we must also be worried about ourselves.

And that includes me.

I don't want to be scrolling on social media while my daughter is growing up in front of my eyes - with me staring at my phone.

So, last year, I decided to leave social media.

• I wasn't on FB anymore (my account might be active here and there when trying to sell something on Marketplace). Politics made quitting FB easy years ago.
• Twitter was hard because it kept me (entirely too connected) to all the gossip surrounding my favorite football club. Elon made it easier. Thanks for overpaying for those shares of mine.
• Insta was hard because I loved following my friends. But became easy because most of the content I was served was just crap I didn't ask for.
• LinkedIn doesn't count. If you're addicted to LinkedIn, you've got bigger problems.

I hope someday, social media will be a safe and fun place again, a place where we can connect with the people we love and care for. We need rules, safeguards, and constraints.

Until then, I'll work hard to be more present so I never miss moments like this.