For six hours this week, the lives of billions were deeply impacted by one single event. I am not talking about a stand off between nuclear powers nor a new strain of covid. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ceased to be.

It is as if everyone together shouted “Oi Gevalt”. And to prove how shocked they were, they could not even manage a sneeze in the same breath. (Sorry – old Jewish joke).

A BBC post brutally described the serious side of the outage, revealing stories of people who rely on these platforms to receive important personal messages. As for the commercial fallout, let’s start with the fact that Facebooks’ shares were worth US$40 billion less within a few hours.

People far wiser than me have rushed to explain what could have happened, what may have happened, and what should have happened – most using terminology that I do not understand. However, one LinkedIn post from hightech whiz, Hillel Fuld, got me thinking.

All I could think is what our lives would be like without FB, Instagram, or WhatsApp. It was really hard to imagine.

Hillel Fuld

At the time, I commented in jest: “Funny thing is due to a glitch, I deleted FB from my phone two days ago.
Funnier still, my world did not fall off its axis – unless you want to claim that the shock of my firing FB was the cause of the outage 😏”.

It’s true. The day before, while I have no idea how I did it, I deleted Facebook from my mobile. I then was distracted (by my work), and so I did not find time immediately to reinstall the platform. A few hours later, I randomly decided not to upload the app. Yes, it is still on my computer, which I use during work hours only, but my mobile is ‘naked’.

Freedom! After 4 days, I still don’t miss it, (that much). No more photos of people’s toes on the beach or moronic tik-tok videos of cats chasing dogs.

As Fuld wrote, we use these devices “disproportionately“! When the BBC reminds us that the many depend on such apps for immediate info on loved ones or how businesses run advertising campaigns, I get that. That’s legit usage. However, too many of us, including me, are addicted mega-time. For example, how many of us find oursleves checking these apps, when we should be concentrating on zoom calls?

So I would like to finish this piece with a back-handed compliment to Mr. Zuckerberg, who owns all three apps. We are constantly being warned of the social dangers of these apps. This coming Sunday, October 12th 2021, is World Mental Health Day. You can make it a reality by switching off – maybe even uninstalling – one of these apps for just 6 hours.

Yes, I am suggesting that you go on an “app fast” for just 6 hours. Zuckerberg’s crew forced it on you, and you survived. You can do it for yourselves. You will feel better and you can thank Zuckerberg at the same time for showing us the way ahead.