Has anybody else given up with SEO?

I have and I did quite a long time ago.

I prefer to focus on things that I CAN control, not to ask "how high?" when Google has a dance and moves the goalposts.

Sure, it can be a nice bonus, but I decided to pack SEO in and treat it purely as a bonus. If Google randomly decides to list my site high for a search - cool.

I quit SEO last year, move to social media and never look back ever since

Wouldn't say I gave up but more so got distracted by easier ways to make a dollar. SEO income is all over the map unless you're an agency.

I have. I mean it's too stressful to keep up with.

One day you're high the next day you've been swept of the entire SERP.

For me it's not worth the stress and money invested especially when you can actually focus on much better and easier(to be controlled) traffic source such as social and ads.

The only re-entry I plan doing as regards to SEO is with parasites. I discover they actually rank without serious(any) work, and I will do so when my next project is up and running and possibly throw a few links at them to get them ranking higher.