A short while ago, I lost access to my WeChat account. I am not sure why it wouldn’t let me log in; perhaps it was my ancient, out-of-date phone. But I wasn’t too upset because it offered me an opportunity to take a break from social media---something more and more people are doing.

In the United States, Twitter is losing millions of users each month and Facebook has seen a 44 percent decline among its younger users. Some of these users may have deserted Twitter and Facebook for other social media platforms, while many others have quit because they felt that social media was having a negative effect on their happiness and overall quality of life.

Stars such as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeren have taken a break from social media because they were tired of so many Internet trolls(网络喷子) leaving negative comments. Ordinary people(like me) are turning away from it because of the feeling that they were spending more time online and enjoying less.

It is not unusual for people to spend two or three hours a day posting or reading posts, to the point where it becomes an addiction. And it is an addiction. There is a chemical in your brain known as dopamine(多巴胺) which is sometimes called the "reward molecule" and its release gives you a feeling of pleasure. For instance, when you post a photo on WeChat and get a hundred likes, you feel happy. That’s dopamine at work.

In my case, being off WeChat left me with a feeling of anxiety for a few days. No doubt I missed my dopamine. And I got e-mails from friends wondering if I was fine or if I was just being anti-social(不喜欢社交的). But I soon began to feel quite peaceful and started to worry less about what other people were doing and concentrate more on my personal life. And it is an added bonus that I’m getting better sleep at night.

I’m not advocating that all of you quit social media, but spending less time on these platforms does bring you advantages. You could start by leaving your phone at home when you go to school(For some, that’s already a school rule). And it is also a good idea to charge your phone outside of your bedroom at night, as you are unlikely to get a good night’s sleep when the notification(通知) bell keeps ringing.

Someday I may reconnect with my WeChat account, but I’m not in a hurry. Life can be more relaxing and just as interesting without it.

About two months ago, I removed Uber Eats from my phone. Not because I didn’t like using it. I loved it. Like most cheap, modern luxuries though, there are hidden costs.

“Restaurants are barely surviving. Delivery apps will kill them” was a headline in a newspaper, one of many stories exploring the unfair sign-up strategies and high fees taken by these tech companies. Moreover, there were reports about bad working conditions for delivery riders, leading to tragic accidents, even deaths. That’s truly unbearable!

I deleted the app and haven’t used it, or any of its competitors, since. Instead of ordering online, now I either cook something or get takeaway nearby. Cooking better food has been a great motivation for me. On lazy nights, I’ve discovered that I can still make a satisfying meal by using whatever ingredients I have on hand. This approach has also saved me much money. As with lots of online shopping, I’d been ordering food without much thought about the cost. Cooking is almost always cheaper and so is old-school takeaway.

These changes have cost me one thing — time. One reason the apps are so popular is that they meet the needs of the convenience-seeking, time-starved individuals. But rather than adding to my stress, having to plan meals again somehow made life less so. Some days it’s been a good motivation to stop work earlier, and engage in activities like going to the shops, or start chopping onions. Walking to pick up takeaway forces you to go for a walk. The change in habit forced me to be on my devices a bit less and to be in my actual life and neighbourhood a bit more.

The process has made me think about how technological advances do save us time, but time for what? For me, the answer was often just more time working, or more time online. Making my own food feels like taking back time I had given up for things far less nourishing (有营养的).

Recently, Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta. The company said it would better include what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the existing brand could not possibly represent everything that they’re doing today, let alone in the future. He also revealed the company’s plans to build a “metaverse (元宇宙)” — an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment.

The term “metaverse” was invented by author Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash, a science fiction published in 1992. In the work, the metaverse is a sort of 3D virtual world. It’s not simply a virtual reality game but is a persistent and shared virtual world. Or rather, the metaverse is a whole universe of shared virtual spaces seemingly linked together — you could, essentially, teleport (瞬移) between them.

Metaverse combined at the very least five technologies — they are social media, online game, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and cryptocurrency (加密货币). Those technologies will bring users to an interactive world. AR and VR are vital for Metaverse. VR serves to present the virtual world visually and then AR will provide the audio and sensors for people to be able to interact. With Metaverse, Facebook will offer not only a texting service but also a multi-perspective virtual touch that feels like a real thing.

Facebook said that it plans to create 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next five years to work on metaverse-related endeavours (活动). The company also has introduced Oculus-branded virtual-reality headsets, and it joined with Ray-Ban to develop smart sunglasses that went on sale for $299. “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” Mark Zuckerberg said. “I view this work as critical to our mission because delivering a sense of presence — like you’re right there with another person — that’s the highest goal of online social experiences,” he said.