I need opinions. How are you finding social media these days? As much as I try to consume it in small doses or "responsibly," I always find myself feeling like sh*t after I use any platform, even if I use it for a couple of minutes a day.
To stop myself from using social media as a distraction, I have been playing more games, watching more series, and reading more. I go back to social media when I want to know about my friends and family and share a bit about myself, as well. Only to find myself watching short videos after a while. Yeah, that's when I don't feel like myself anymore. The world around me becomes everything bad all at once. I'm fully responsible for my self-care while carrying that weight with me. While this isn't the case, this is how socials, like Instagram, make me perceive my reality.
Social media was meant to be informative or used as a distraction. But, if anything, when I use it, I don't get to do either. I don't get a say in what I'm in the mood to watch or able to absorb the information I'm bombarded with. It is all too fast and contradictory. I can start watching short videos of kittens followed by violent videos of shootings, causing dissonance and strengthening my negative bias.
Sometimes, I wish I could reverse time to when I had the then-unknown luxury of doing nothing. Now, to do nothing looks like meditation or some kind of effort to do nothing. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it's a consequence of the times we live in now, and to be drained by a little screen feels surreal.
No matter what I do, I will, on a daily basis, watch short videos, reels or Tik-Toks because some accounts I follow make relevant videos for me. But I'm not in control. I'm not in control of who I get to watch after I scroll down or which friends I have here or there, and, if they want to show me something, I will need to access any of these socials.
I can't be present everywhere, and there is just too much to keep up with. Not everything is all bad; I enjoy checking on my friends' progress, I like listening to Lo-Fi on YouTube, and I have had a good laugh with some funny short videos I have seen for sure. But see how I'm writing about this? Something is not ok, and I know this to my core.
I don't want to disappear off the map, either. I have worked hard on my platforms. But, even though I work in Digital Marketing, I'm just as lost navigating the algorithm sea as much as the next person. Where does this ship sail?
Goodbye ⛵ ~