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\nGum sales have been relentlessly dropping<\/a> for the past five years because people don\u2019t look around when they wait in line to pay.<\/p>\n On paper, smartphones are amazing pieces of glass. They have magically cured boredom as we always have something to do \u2014 those endless feeds of content are a perpetual source of inspiration, information and amusement. And yet, feeds need to die because they distort our views and disconnect us from other human beings around us.<\/p>\n Many people have deleted the Facebook app from their phone to avoid this mindless habit. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on in my feed?\u201d they think. Then they scroll, scroll, scroll, get bored and close the app. Repeat this process every 30 minutes. Deleting the app is the best way to take a stance and say that Facebook is a waste of time.<\/p>\n But this idea is nothing new. Your phone battery isn\u2019t miraculously shrinking. You\u2019re just spending time than ever using your phone. Flurry says that U.S. users spend nearly an hour<\/a> in a Facebook app every day (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger).<\/p>\n Imagine what you could do with all this time. It\u2019s easy to say that you don\u2019t have time to read books anymore. But it\u2019s harder to justify it once you realize you spend an hour scrolling through your Facebook and Instagram feeds every day.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m not judging here as I spend way too much time scrolling through my Twitter timeline every day. I probably spend more time staring at screens than most people \u2014 too much time.<\/p>\n But something clicked for me a couple of months ago. I suffered from tech fatigue<\/a> once again and I wanted to change something.<\/p>\n I now spend most of my weekends without ever checking a single feed. I don\u2019t even need to pay attention to my battery level because I ignore my iPhone for most of the day. At first, I thought I was missing out on some Very Important Content. I felt disconnected. I fought against my own FOMO<\/a>. But now, I don\u2019t feel anything. What\u2019s going on on Instagram? I don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n Facebook is now the worst internet forum<\/a> you can find. Twitter is filled with horrible, abusive people<\/a>. Instagram has become a tiny Facebook now that it has discouraged all the weird, funny accounts from posting with its broken algorithm<\/a>. LinkedIn\u2019s feed is pure spam.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s what I realized after forgetting about all those \u201csocial\u201d networks. First, they\u2019re tricking you and pushing the right buttons to make you check your feed just one more time. They all use thirsty notifications<\/a>, promote contrarian posts that get a lot of engagement and play with your emotions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Posting has been gamified and you want to check one more time if you got more likes on your last Instagram photo. Everything is now a story so that you pay more attention to your phone and you get bored less quickly \u2014 moving pictures with sound tend to attract your eyes. And many people now pay more attention to the Kardashian family than their neighbors.<\/p>\n Second, I started paying attention to people around me. Phones have become a social tool to distance yourself from an uncomfortable situation. Somehow, if a homeless person yells at you, it has become acceptable to look at your phone and pretend that there\u2019s something really<\/i> important happening on your screen. Nobody is going to judge you.<\/p>\n