I love this and relate so deeply, even though I’m much earlier in the same process of “winnowing down.” I deleted social media apps from my phone a few months ago. While I’ve been happier, it amazes me how many of my close friends (especially those who don’t live in the same city as me) don’t call or text or visit, as if social media had been all that we needed to stay in touch.

It’s not the same having a one-on-one conversation with a trusted friend as reading their status updates from across the world, which is essentially them soapboxing to anyone who will listen. There’s no way to feel special or needed or heard there, at least not in a meaningful way. You’re just part of the mass broadcast. And this was proven to me when I stopped communicating that way.

I’m not sure how to articulate this to my friends, most of who are in their mid-to late-twenties now, and for whom social media sharing is ubiquitous. I will send “old fashioned” photos in private text messages and hope for the same back. I’ve chided friends who continually push off visits and phone calls they continually promised to make. But ultimately I think I’m just narrowing down my focus and energy to people who think like, and appreciate, me, and vice versa.