Access Barriers, Not Restrictions

How I Changed My Relationship With Social Media

This content was originally published on Medium (March 6th, 2026) and has been adapted by The Honking Goose platform. I’ve noted and strikethroughs to parts of the article. While I agree with the big picture, I do not believe I my conclusions around Medium as a social media replacement.

Every year people will write posts about how they quit using social media or even write an article about why they stopped using a specific app. Some people will stick with the change and others will not. This is not one of those stories.

I am blind and live in a rural area that is not walkable and that lacks public transportation. The result of this is that I cannot leave home independently to go make friends, so forming human connections even if they are virtual is crucial for my wellbeing. Given this situation, I think that quitting social media entirely has the potential to cause harm to my mental health. But I refuse to accept powerlessness. So, I instead decided to change my consumption patterns, and see what should be deleted, changed, or even added.

From 2025 to 2026, the home screen on my iPhone transformed from a hub for content consumption to a fast way to access any number of tools and services. Choice was returned to me, I choose what to watch, listen to, or read; not an algorithm. This is the story of how I changed the way I use social media and reclaimed control over how I use technology.

Moving Social Media From My iPhone to my Computer

To begin my journey, I deleted many social media apps from my iPhone, including Facebook and X/Twitter. I also went a step further with a handful of smaller apps I rarely used, deleting not just the app but the account itself, to avoid the temptation of drifting toward something new and repeating the same pattern. The deleted accounts were mostly Twitter alternatives like Bluesky and Threads, among others.

Editorial Note: I have left the Medium platform. I somewhat the belief stated taking another look at it. It was highlighted by a reader on Medium.

I kept Medium because I don’t believe it is designed to be addictive, at least not in the way Meta’s platforms are, and its longer format tends to produce more thoughtful content rather than reactive noise. I also kept chat-focused apps like Discord, Signal, and WhatsApp. Shifting from feeds to conversations keeps the focus on people rather than content to be consumed.

It’s worth noting that these changes are access barriers, not restrictions on what I can do. I can still open any of these apps on my laptop or iPad whenever I choose. But if I walk out of a room with just my iPhone, the noise stays behind. It’s removing the immediate access to social media platforms and adding a small amount of friction for access that makes the major difference for me.

Replacing Social Media with Medium

Editorial Note: I have left the Medium platform. I somewhat the belief stated taking another look at it. It was highlighted by a reader on Medium.

After removing these apps, I wanted to make sure I had something to replace the kind of content I reach for during downtime. The goal was not just to fill the gap but to spend that unstructured time a little better. That’s when I found Medium.

Medium stood out because it centers high-quality, long-form written content. While some posts include images or video, they are supplementary rather than the main attraction. Most of what I have come across on the platform is thoughtful and substantive rather than reactive or clickbait driven. The app rewards good writing, and that shows in what surfaces. Now would be a good time to mention that there is a slight conflict of interest, as I am writing this story, and you are reading this story, on Medium’s platform.

Then I researched other forms of content that are designed to capture your attention for long amounts of time. My goal is to give me more control over the content I consume, if another product has the same behavioral as social media but goes by a different name and hides its behaviors in another format then I need use the same techniques to manage my use of it. The Facebook or Twitter feed is only one of many addictive product designs that are built to keep you consuming. I learned about the risks of short length video platforms like TikTok which already feels like a feed, but I learned that apps with longer content like Netflix and YouTube can be equally addictive.

Replacing Netflix and YouTube with Audiobooks

Apps like Netflix and YouTube are built around continuity, pulling you from one episode or recommended video to the next. Outside of commentary/podcast material on YouTube, I enjoy listening to creative writing turned into storytelling (general fiction). The creativity of independent content creators inspires me. Given I like the storytelling part of YouTube, I can find a similar form of content in audiobooks where the structure is not designed around advertiser breaks but it keeps the storytelling. I replaced Netflix and YouTube with audiobook apps, which I love listening to and find to be a genuinely fun way to spend time.

What makes audiobooks a better fit for me comes down to the business model. The goal is simply to sell you a good book and, ideally, more books in the future. The content is not written to be paused for commercial breaks or designed to keep you in a state of anxious engagement. I can pause and come back an hour later, or a few days later, or even a week later if life gets overwhelming. There is no pressure to keep up. The book will be there whenever I am ready.

Then I thought about what online socialization looks like beyond the newsfeed. I have used the chat application for a long time and am part of several communities. The way I seek engagement is no longer writing a witty reply on a popular account’s post but rather engaging with groups of people and making connections that way.

Staying Connected Without A Feed

This is the biggest paradigm shift for me. Instead of an app like X/Twitter nudging you toward a quick reply to a stranger, a brief back-and-forth, and then never speaking again, chat applications like Discord encourage you to join interest-based communities and build real friendships. From there, you can exchange contact information and move off app to something more secure and private, like Apple’s iMessage or Signal. This protects not just the content of your messages but also your metadata, like when and how often you communicate, giving you greater privacy in day-to-day life.

What Actually Changed

I have much more control over the content I consume. I get to choose when to engage with it. If I put my phone on do not disturb and stop checking it, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything important. Outside of the occasional message in a chat app, reactionary content is gone. The content designed to make you feel stressed and anxious has been removed from my phone entirely.

My new iPhone and iPad home screen reflects this shift. It is built around productivity, utility, and health apps, tools to help me manage my vision impairment, apps for books and music, a few AI apps, chat apps, and Medium. I haven’t figured everything out yet, and this isn’t a post with all the answers.

What I’m Still Figuring Out

There are aspects to this journey that I have not found full solutions to yet. When the norm is often to connect through social media, finding people to connect with and doing so off of traditional social media platforms can be challenging.

Building lasting friendships, or even private threads that last more than a week or two, is a lot harder than it might seem. People’s interests and values don’t always align, and that’s completely okay. Finding people whose background, experiences, and availability to chat match your own is genuinely difficult, but this isn’t a problem unique to Discord; it’s a challenge everyone faces in life. That said, joining servers tied to your interests usually means you can find someone to talk to, even if they never become a lifelong friend. Occasionally, no community exists for a specific interest, and building one from scratch requires recruiting members and sustaining activity, which is no small feat.

I believe that I will find the answers to these questions, or at least what works for me, with time. The changes to the way I use social media have felt like a net positive to me, not a loss, which I believe means I made the right choices.

This Is Not Another “I’m Quitting Social Media” Story

I can still use the same apps as before. I’ve simply moved the ones with more addictive designs to my computer or iPad, where access requires a little more intention. This is about reclaiming my time: deciding what content I want to consume, when I want to consume it, and in what format. Choosing books over movies or TV shows, for example.

Here’s a challenge: identify an app you don’t need constant access to but find yourself spending a lot of time on. Delete it from your phone and restrict it to your computer or tablet, where it’s a little less frictionless. Then notice how you feel.