I must admit, I myself have been guilty of it, both actively and passively. Posting pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. that, let's be honest, are meant to get attention. Whether it's posts full of bragging asking for a congrats, posts of bad things that happened asking for sympathy, posts for birthdays or holidays as tribute to someone important, posts literally making your life seem picture perfect, whether it's tangible things you have, or relationships you're in. When did our life value become measured by our social media posts? I first started reevaluating things when I noticed all the Mother's Day posts. Pictures posted saying how much they loved their moms and wished them a great day. Since when does it take a picture post on social media to confirm that, yes, you love your mother? and why do you only let the world know that via social media one day a year? So I decided I wasn't going to be like everyone else out there. You want to know what I did? CALLED my mom (yes, what a novel idea), and talked to her on the phone. Asked about her day, caught up, and TOLD her how much I loved her, instead of telling all my friends on social media. Same goes for birthdays. Why post a picture with a friend you haven't actually seen in years, just to make you seem closer than you really are? Why not go SEE that friend, take them to lunch, catch up. Make their big day actually have meaning, instead of making it all superficial via the internet. Using social media to glorify our lives only paints a false picture of what is real, and in a society where we are constantly comparing ourselves to others, it can be an extremely detrimental thing. That's where the passiveness comes in. All the posts of weddings, babies, new jobs and cars... Why must others success be the way of measuring ourselves? Especially because more often than not, those posts are very much inflated. The perfect filter, the ability to revise and edit... endless ways to portray the perfection that doesn't exist. While social media can be a great way to stay in touch and get updates, I firmly believe it has made people extremely lazy and caused them to take advantage of things and lose appreciation. Since when does our self worth have to be measured by how many likes we have?
When I gave social media up for lent, it was the most refreshing 40 days of my life. It was the first time in a long time I had no distractions, and I could finally focus on me time. I was able to focus on bettering myself, without constant comparing myself to everyone else. I was able to reconnect with old friends, rather than just "creeping" on posts to see what they were doing with their lives. When I gave up social media, I was finally free to live my life for the first time in a long time.
After giving it a lot of thought, I am contemplating getting rid of social media, with the exception of Facebook, for the simple fact that I do use it for other purposes other than everything I'm against. It will be a good test to see how many people still connect with me, despite me rebelling against getting sucked into this anti-social world we have become a part of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2V9-3ZwnIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ
