Deactivating social media made me realise just how invisible I can be to people. No one calls. No one texts to check on me. No one seems to notice that I’ve gone quiet or wonder where I’ve been. It’s as if the moment I stopped showing up on their screens, I slowly stopped existing in their minds too. And there’s something deeply painful about realising how many connections seem to depend on your online presence. You can spend so much time interacting with people, watching their lives, keeping up with their updates and assuming you’re part of each other’s worlds, only to step away and realise how little effort some people make to maintain that connection outside of social media. It makes you wonder how many people genuinely think about you when you’re not constantly reminding them that you exist. How many would reach out simply because they miss you, want to hear your voice or care enough to ask how you’ve been. I know people get busy and silence doesn’t always mean someone doesn’t care. But it still hurts when you realise that if you stopped making yourself visible, you might stop hearing from people altogether. Disappearing from social media teaches you who remembers you when there’s nothing on their screen reminding them that you exist.