The pandemic has done a number on my social life.
Not that I had a booming social life to brag about before COVID, but the work-related events and the occasional trip to a bar or club after months of nagging from my roommate disappeared with the 2020 lockdowns and I’ve been finding it difficult to even get back into taking baby steps.
As the months went by and we slipped further into quarantining, I did what I think most people did and turned to my smartphone to be my window into the new world.
Along with social media apps that I already had — Facebook and Instagram — I also downloaded Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat. I even turned back to Grindr, Scruff and Growlr which I had gotten rid of before I had even heard of COVID-19 because they were taking up too much of my time and were far too toxic for me to handle, but that is for another column.
While these apps offered me a way to stay connected and informed during a time when doing so in person was not an option, I found myself becoming too connected, learned too many “facts” from memes and informed by everybody’s opinion on everything all of the time.
My phone was on a continuous buzz with notifications that photos were shared, messages were sent, tweets were tweeted and posts were posted. Even with the notifications turned off, I found myself picking my phone up every few minutes to scroll through each app to see what was happening. I had developed social media FOMO.
I had turned to social media apps because I thought trying to stay connected and seeing people develop themselves through learning to cook, getting healthy or vlogging about how they were handling the pandemic would help to motivate me to want to better myself. But instead it turned me into a lump, wasting my life on the couch scrolling for hours.
A few weeks ago I decided to make a change and instead of watching others make the best of this situation, I deleted all the social media apps from my phone and replaced them with apps that would help to improve myself.
It started by deleting Grindr, Scruff and Growlr. Twitter also went out with the dating apps. That group of apps proved to be the most damaging to my mental health. I will always be amazed by how shallow and vile people can be when they are hidden behind a keyboard.
I replaced them with a collection of apps that help to count steps, calories and track how much water I’m drinking. With the time freed up with those apps gone, I’ve started to take walks each evening to push my life into a healthier direction.
Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram were the next group to get the boot and I replaced them with a journaling app as well as apps to help with meditation and brain teasers to keep my brain stimulated.
TikTok has proven the most difficult to get rid of. Since downloading it during the first COVID spike, it has been a fun escape from the doom and gloom of the outside world. But I did remove the app from my phone’s home screen in the hopes that it will help me to cut down on TikTok time. Outta sight, outta mind.
Since switching up my phone apps I’m finding I have a lot more time in the real world. Lots more time that I’m looking forward to spending with everyone in the community for Pride, which we look at in this issue.
Come Out With Pride is days away and back to in-person events. We look at the events leading up to Oct. 9 including COWP’s first-ever live theater production sanctioned as an official Pride event, the return of Watermark’s Movies Out Loud, Zebra Coalition’s Drag Race 5K and more. We also talk with Marissa Miller, one of the founders of the National Trans Visibility March, as she and her team prepare to bring the march to Orlando as a part of the Pride parade and festival.
In A&E, we check in with Jobsite Theater’s “Dr. Ride’s American Beach House,” a play about the American astronaut Dr. Sally Ride who in 1983 became the nation’s first female in space. We also feature Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press’ chat with actor Ben Platt and director Stephen Chbosky about their new film based on the Tony Award-winning musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.”
In news, we look at the Orlando City Commissioner District 3 race as Martin Fugate, owner of Ritzy Rags Wigs & More and better known as drag entertainer Leigh Shannon, announces he is ending his campaign. We also check in on the latest on state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith’s lawsuit against the Florida Health Department for COVID-19 information.
