I'm OVER Social Media...
The Internet has grown significantly since its inception and Social Media appears to be prominent force in our current age of the World Wide Web. As of Child of the 90s, I remember it all being about AIM, Proboards Forums, MySpace, and niche sites like SCONEX (I know, that’s a deep cut). Rushing home to get on AIM and chat with my friends while watching Toonami was of my favorite indoor activities as a kid. It was all, for the most part, harmless fun. Everyone in their own bubbles on the internet. You’d see a “flame war” on a forum happen here and there but it wasn’t anything that would completely ruin your day. I just liked getting on Cartoon Network to play all those funky little flash games.
As we grew older, so did our reasons for accessing the internet. One day, a little-known site called Facebook came along and changed everything. What we didn’t realize was that this was the birth of a new age of The Internet, the Age of Social Media. In its infancy, it was just as harmless as the Pre-Facebook Era. Now we’re updating status messages on our “wall”, creating events for meetups, and sharing all manner of videos/pictures we would take with our digital cameras. Oh, and there was Poking….which got kind of raunchy for some reason.
Then from Facebook we got Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and eventually TikTok, among other platforms. I’m not going to go into the history of each or anything, it just felt necessary to preface my relationship to social media before we really “get into it”.
Social Media sucks now. It’s not as fun or exciting as it used to be. It’s filled with narcissists, racists, sexists, homophobes, and any other type of idiot you could imagine. Let’s not forget to mention how tedious it’s become to exist as a creator or entrepreneur on these platforms now. They push you to pay for Ads that barely get you anywhere, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Hatred and Toxicity is the new norm. Low Effort art and content suffocates each platform, making it difficult for creators with actual skill to be seen. The craziest thing I’ve seen is people arguing with experts on subjects they have no acumen in whatsoever. We’re talking Game Devs, Physicians, Professional Artists - you name it, and I guarantee there’s some dude in Colorado, sitting in his pickup truck (with said truck as his profile picture), debating a tenured professor about science. Not saying that someone without a degree can be intelligent but let’s be real, y’all know exactly the type of person I’m talking about.
I miss the old days but I’m afraid we’ll never get them back.
It used to be that you’d post a little video here, some art there and it would be seen by new and old audience alike. You actually popped up in your followers’ newsfeed or FYP. Follower Count means jack shit these days too. Anybody can go viral, and it doesn’t amount to anything because it’s happening to everyone now. I was so excited when I finally reached 10k on TikTok, as I was still under the old belief that this 5-digit number was going to carry some heavy weight. In some cases, it does. I have been afforded opportunities here and there but it’s not like 10 years ago where it could have landed you on Ellen or some shit.
As a creator, you either have to know somebody that knows some real shit, pay to boost yourself in these algorithms, or get LUCKY with a few videos that help grow your platform. I’ll keep it a buck, I’m tired of it all.
Which lead me to taking a big break from it all.
Nearly a month after a traumatic incident (that I’ll be making a video for on YouTube), I kept myself away from social media. No posting, no scrolling, nothing. I noticed that I started to feel better, just a bit, both physically and mentally. No longer was I feening to post something to be ahead of the crowd on a trend, I wasn’t up until 6AM in the morning scrolling through TikTok, I was no longer a slave to these incredibly addictive apps. I’m starting to believe those studies on social media to be more accurate that I originally thought because I feel better! Not that I was slacking on responsibilities before but now I have more time to create, to catch up on delayed and new projects, and even just relaxing. Actually relaxing. Not propped up on the bed or sitting in the chair hunched over, just me and my thoughts. It’s been nice.
The other day, I got back on TikTok just to see what was new. I give myself an actual time limit now. One particular video popped up on my FYP, it was about the Doctor Who (Reboot) Second Season Finale that JUST aired only a couple hours earlier. The creator was in their car, unfiltered thoughts, no editing. Just rushing to get a video out before anyone else, vying for a chance to get a viral moment. “That’s really fucking sad”, I thought to myself.
We’re in a proverbial rat race with no winners. The competition is rigged.
Even for the BIG creators, everyone’s affected.
I’m not typically a jealous type of person but I truly envy artists like Kara Walker or Ryan Coogler that don’t NEED to be on social media at all. Or those big YouTubers that drop a couple videos a month and dip until their next project is out to promote. I can only dream what that feels like and I will achieve that!
I don’t hate Social Media, it’s been a great tool for connection and opportunities BUT I’m falling out of love with it. Honestly, you should too — we’re due for a cultural reset.
