I never thought of myself as being an especially heavy user of social media, but now that I no longer post on Instagram and barely post on Twitter... I suddenly have a lot of new free time?

Now some of this is that I don’t care about video; I got bored with TikTok about two years ago and deleted it from my phone. But if you, like me, have discovered that social media has felt a lot less compelling lately, let me make some suggestions for activities:

• Season your cast iron skillet. You’ve already seasoned it? Well, another coat won’t hurt.
• Clean out your closet. Hey, you should be doing this regularly anyway, right?
• Learn to cook a new recipe. This is also an ideal time to listen to music.
• Go for a walk (or just sit outside). Joke’s on them! They’re typing “touch grass” online, and you’re actually touching grass.
• Pick up a new hobby. You’ve wanted to learn how to make furniture? No time like the present.
• Join a club. Or play a game of pickup soccer. Or go to a stitch-and-bitch night.
• Do some gardening. Go above and beyond touching grass!
• Ponder the demise of social media. Computers used to be a place where I met other weirdos and where I was delighted by their creativity, an oasis of fun stuff. When did it change? Was it the banner ad? The influencer? The switch to phones from desktop? The pandemic? The attempts at face computers? The metaverse? Am I just old now? Did I age out of caring? When was the last time I had fun online?
• Read a book. One of the nice things about stepping away from The Algorithms is that your attention span grows back.
• Spend time with your friends. You know, the original social network. Of people. Offline.
• Call your parents. I bet they’d be excited to hear from you!
• Learn a game. I hear bridge is cool, but this could be anything. Horseshoes. D&D.
• Take a nap. Naps are cool.
• Annoy your family. Personally, I think this is a lot more fun when I have a new enthusiasm (see: pick up a new hobby).
• Go to a show. Maybe it’s just the local theater group’s Shakespeare production, but it might be nice.

You get the picture. Google search is less usable, social media is more unpleasant, and Amazon is making it harder to find quality goods. If online is getting worse, maybe the easiest thing to do is log off. You would not believe the cool birds I’ve seen or how well-seasoned my cast iron is. Also, I’ve generally found that when I go places in real life, there are people standing around who know things and can answer my questions? And there’s no glurge? Get some enrichment outside of your enclosure today!