Hey all, I hope you read the title to this post in the voice of Mr. Milchick from season 2 of Severance. The last time I wrote was in August 2025, and it is now January of 2026. Life got busy for a while and to be honest, I kind of burnt myself out on writing for this blog even though I enjoy it when I do. I used to routinely post bi-weekly, but now I think I am going to aim for a more manageable once per month. So what’s happened in the last 4-ish months?

Let’s start with a big one. I officially deleted all of my social media accounts. I had deleted most of my accounts a while ago, but still held on to my Meta accounts (Facebook and Instagram) albeit deactivated. However, around September or October, I decided I was going to delete them for good. While they were deactivated, there was always a part of me that knew I still had them; there, just waiting for me. Now, I officially have no personal social media accounts. The one account I have access to is a blank Facebook profile my husband and I have. I use it to maintain a business page and we both occasionally dabble in a Marketplace search because it’s just too damn useful sometimes. Otherwise, we do not follow anyone, have no friends, and don’t even have a profile picture which probably does not bode well for us when trying to score a deal on Marketplace. Overall, this feels very freeing to not have this thought in the back of my mind that I always have my accounts there waiting for me to come back. Now, it’s all gone (from my access at least).

Along with my Meta accounts, I also took a leap and deleted my ChatGPT account. While ChatGPT and generative AI large language models are incredibly powerful and useful tools, these things have significant costs to them. Two big things for me is the unethical mining of data to train the models and the large data centers necessary to train and run the models. The latter hits a bit closer to home, 1.9 miles to be exact. That is the distance in which a proposed data center was to be built from my home. Search anywhere online and you will see the large public outcry and pushback against these data centers. As someone who tries to be eco-friendly when possible and keep our planet healthy, I could not in good conscience keep using ChatGPT with any regularity. So, the account had to go bye-bye.

One big thing, at least to me, that was not tech related was I finally got to see Lorde live in concert. To be honest, it was one of–if not the–best concerts I have ever been to. She is such a talented writer, singer, and performer, and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to see her again. And if you have read the Welcome post on the blog, you will know this blog is meant to mimic the design and aesthetic of her latest album, Virgin. Please enjoy this photo from her concert.

During these few months away, I have continued my journey of using my technology more intentionally. I feel as though I have started to find purpose for my technology, although I of course have some times when I have to have a YouTube binge session because I have nothing else going on. For the most part, I feel I have been able to significantly cut down on screen time and be more present with those around me without the distraction of a device. I have made my phone boring with hardly any apps except the built in ones and some banking and two-factor authentication apps required for my job. However, I feel there is still room to improve. See, I have this want, desire, for my to have the discipline that when I want to listen to music, for example, I can do just that and only that. Listen to music. However, I seem to start an album, then I look through other Apple Music recommendations, oh then I check my email, then look at some photos, then I get a text, and so on. And this is after setting my phone down and picking it back up again a half dozen times. This is something I am working on more now is mono tasking. Being present with the task or activity at hand and not needing the constant dopamine input.

So what is this blog going to look like going forward? Well for one, the blog now lives in two places: WordPress and Substack. I decided to expand to Substack as I feel it might reach a broader audience that way as personal blogs are kind of a thing of 15 years ago. For the time being and foreseeable future, I will be posting to both platforms. Like I mentioned early, my intentions are to write about once per month. I have some ideas brewing in my head, and spoiler I am planning to do a deeper dive on each thing I talked about here so stay tuned. But for now, I think we are caught up. Hopefully our next minute is only a month. 🙂