Most social media apps cost nothing (or very little for what is on offer), but we must all remember that nothing in this world is free: if something costs us nothing but our time, then we are the product, our attention being packaged and sold.

There was always a way to get around the barriers I had constructed for myself. Even when I had somehow managed to abstain, I found myself looking at the limited apps I could access over and over: refreshing my email and my banking app, over and over. I was a rat in a lab, tapping the button for pellets.

The smartphone promised to be everything: a way to connect with others, to feel a part of the world. Every fleck of information at my fingertips, news and updates and advancements all coming thick and fast like the ocean through a broken porthole on a cruise liner. But the more time I invested, scrolling and looking, the more passive I became and... See more

I also remember a time when it was entirely unnecessary to tell people to log off. I was fourteen and life was filled with touching grass. I rolled in it. I drank cask wine and cheap bourbon bartered from weird old men outside grog shops on it. I was drunk with my friends in the park, my jeans covered in stains. My piss touched the grass, as I... See more