After watching the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, I feel confident in something that I’ve long suspected: Social media is ruining our brains and our sense of selves. It is slowly breaking down our democracy and ruining our children. And while I thought I could strike some kind of healthy balance, I’ve realized that there is no “good” amount of social media one can consume. And that’s why, right now as I enter the post office to do some errands, I am signing off of social media for goo– oh wait, shit. This line is actually really long.
Ditching social media has already done wonders for my mood and my outlook. For example, in this line, which is very long, I am already engaging with my surroundings, reading signs, noticing the nuances of people’s facial expressions around me. For example, this person in front of me is smiling at something on Instagram. Maybe I could just sign in on my browser for just a few minutes.
Again, this line is very long.
Social media has challenged my relationships with family and even some friends, as the political discourse has been reduced to invented facts and name-calling. Their minds are so warped that any effort I put in on Facebook is rendered futile, as they believe it’s all “fake news”. Hmm, speaking of that, I wonder what my one cousin who was really into QAnon has been posting on Facebook since I’ve been gone. Maybe I’ll just sign in on my browser really quick?
What do you expect me to do? Sit alone with my thoughts??
Which reminds me of the very problem at the crux of all of this – all media, not just social media, has left us with so many occupied moments of the day that we never get to just sit and think and reflect on our lives, not even in bed at night. How can we ever escape the anxiety of life if we can’t reflect on it? Anyway, I just re-downloaded Twitter cause I thought that’d be a good question to put out there and see who responds. Shut up, okay? I was bored!!
In the end, if democracy itself comes to an end because of this dangerously addictive tool – you will be forced to admit, this line at the post office was unreasonably long.
