I quit social media when the Holy Spirit revealed the damaging way I interacted with it

Woman Alive editor, Tola Doll Fisher first left Facebook, then Twitter, and finally Instagram. She defends her choice to go against the majority and shares why the decision has proved beneficial.

I first came off Facebook about a decade ago. I was dealing with a difficult break up and grieving over the loss of a family member. Photos of the former and the new life he was living, along with memories of the latter, was not the combination I needed for a healthy mental state.

Like many before me, I soon went back when I realised I was missing out on the “likes” and affirmations from my thousands of “friends”. I justified my return because it was the one platform that helped me connect with people from my past (some of whom, in hindsight, should have remained there) and in any case, what kind of journalist would I be if I didn’t keep up to date with the riveting stuff happening in other peoples’ lives? A bad one, I reckoned.