Tati Bernardi says goodbye to virtual life: “Goodbye, social networks”

decided that the Facebook it’s a delay in my life, that Instagram is giving me tendonitis and that the Whatsapp it gives my parents and friends the feeling that I am in the next room completely unoccupied. There are people who record audio for half an hour just to complain about constipation. You are losing control.

So I wrote a long farewell textfull of those clichés about taking advantage of the light from my balcony at dusk, picking fruit, walking barefoot in a park, about the importance of looking deeply and personally in the eyes, about this whole thing called human contact.

It’s a lie, I would never write those annoyances that move Aunt Cidinha. I just said that I was very busy and that, despite being completely addicted to knowing what all of you, especially the less interesting ones, do for a living, I would take a break from social networks and endless chat apps. It would be very difficult to live without knowing what dessert you photographed, what white lace dress you wore, what photo of your son in an armchair next to a teddy bear “six months, five days and two hours” you posted. Yes, but I would survive. Because you have to focus on work to survive.

It turns out that after publishing my letter of disintegration, I thought it would be good to follow its developments🇧🇷 Who would go to my pseudo virtual wake? “No, please don’t do that, you brighten my day,” some pleaded. “It’s too late, I think you’re a fool”, cheered others (I’ll always ask myself why people who don’t like me follow me, read what I write, and comment daily on my pages). I thought it polite to respond to the dear ones and necessary to block the undigested ones.

Hence, I thought it was polite to respond to the love rebuttal of the cuties and unblock the bastards (they have the right to hate me, come on!). followed responding endlessly for some and eternally blocking and unblocking others, and again. So I thought it was important to let them know that “work matters” would be dealt with by email.

Then I thought my personal email shouldn’t be so exposed. and I sent private messages to all the people who might try to look for me to talk about work. And the friends who would look for me for parties, dinners, nostalgia? I also sent them private messages with my cell phone. But did I remember them all? I then created a large group of acquaintances to let them know that I would no longer participate in any large group of acquaintances.

I have a terrible addiction called explanation🇧🇷 And because others have a terrible addiction called teasing, I wrote more and more goodbye letters. Texts to explain that it wasn’t forever. Texts to explain that it was nothing personal. Texts to explain that irony is not for everyone. Texts to explain why I was explaining myself. Texts saying I owed nothing to anyone. Texts explaining why, even though I owed nothing to anyone, I still owed this and that explanation.

And after ten days of trying to write my last words on social media, I found it easier to give up and posted a photo of the sunset on my porch. At 4 am, I woke up with terrible anguish, only pacified when I saw more than 50 likes.

🇧🇷 Tati Bernardi is a writer, editor, screenwriter for film and television. His most recent book is After a Louca Sou Eu (Companhia das Letras)