It’s been exactly a month since I shut down my social accounts. “Why did you put yourself on pause? And why are you switching them back on now?” — let me explain briefly. I did this because I felt I was spending too much time on social networks. I wanted to find out whether I could redirect that time toward myself, my personal growth, my family and the people closest to me.

I wasn’t really using Facebook the way I used to — but I had to log in and out for managing certain pages. And of course, the easiest thing to open when I got bored was Facebook. Twitter and especially Instagram were a different story — first thing in the morning, last thing before bed, on the metro, on the bus, while queueing, every time my hand was free: scroll, scroll, scroll. I’d lose track of where my hours had gone.

“OK, so without social media for a month, has your life been transformed?” Here’s what actually happened in that span:

• Started a new semester of Computer Engineering at Dumlupınar — I walked into classes more prepared.
• Started the second-degree programme in Business Administration at Istanbul University.
• Worked on new YouTube video formats; edited and shipped clips that had been sitting on my drive.
• Read more books; the queue that had been gathering dust shrank dramatically.
• Spent more time with family and close friends; our conversations stopped being a story-trace.
• My reflex of reaching for the phone every spare minute disappeared. Gaps got filled by notebooks, pens, conversations and walks instead.

If you only work for this world, you become only of this world; you forget some of the values that matter. It can make you the happiest person in the world — but, in my belief, behaving as if you’ll never die is not the right approach.

Work as if you’ll never die; take precautions as if you’ll die tomorrow.

— Jami al-Saghir, II/12 (Hadith No. 1201)

I’m not always comfortable talking publicly about the religious side of what I do — but I also believe these things ought to be lived out in the open. “Why do we get to flaunt every meaningless thing in public, but feel shy about the meaningful ones?” That question keeps coming back to me.

What ended up running through my head during this break:

• Graduation — even though I don’t know exactly how/when it’ll happen.
• Military service — yes, it depends on graduation, but it’s there too.
• For the first time, I seriously thought about job options and tried to see the road ahead in concrete steps.

People who know me know what it means when I say “valla” (“I swear”). I don’t normally lie, but when I say “valla” you can trust it absolutely. Valla — I’ve leaned on God a lot up to now, and I don’t remember Him leaving me halfway. Same story this time.

I’m Burak Bayram. Someone who knows how to laugh and have fun when it’s time, who treats silence as a way of being when it’s time, who won’t hold back his words when they’re needed — but doesn’t have the courage to break the good hearts God has given us. Someone who loves everyone, and likes being loved in return.

This didn’t end up short or terse. If you read it all the way through — I love you.

Notes

The original post linked out to my own guides on how to delete Facebook / Twitter / Instagram accounts. Once those guides are migrated to this site, this section will link back to them.