Weening off social media

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It's been a few years and the ubiquity of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter is still prevalent. Waning in popularity, mind you, but still prevalent. There other social media outlets seeking to replace them, but only time will tell if they'll ever catch on. In the meantime, I've been seeing more and more people saying that they're abandoning social media and have never felt better. Even though I'm using social media now (forums are social media), I'm almost wondering if I should disappear from the sphere of social media, myself. The toxicity over the last 4 years and the people who perpetuate such toxicity are everywhere and, if given an in, will stop at nothing to wreak havoc on anyone's parade, just because it's Tuesday. It truly is a shame that we have to tread the same soil as these "humans", but it's better out of sight out of mind than surrendering to primal instincts and lashing out at the closest individual. That being said, there are a number of streaming services that can easily take the place of YouTube (last time I checked YouTube doesn't have full episodes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ).

I closed all of my social media accounts a many years ago (maybe 8 years now). My original motivation was actually social anxiety. I found that being on social media made me feel just as anxious as many of the social situations I most feared. Like going to a party and being in a room full of people. Closing my accounts did eliminate that source of anxiety and it freed up some of my time. It sounds like I would like it even less if I were on a social media site these days, given the less-than-kind behavior that I hear goes on on them.

I hope that WP is not ‘social media ‘.
I think of WP as friends to talk to.
Facebook does have rather an avalanche of pretty, superficial airheads.
They are easy enough to ignore or delete.
I do, however, check in on Mr.Vivo.
He is GORGEOUS!
And his owners measured him yesterday; he is 50 inches long.
Four feet, two inches.
Seriously.

Social media has it’s place but you have to be mindful and not take it too seriously. So many people do and that’s when a lot of the toxicity starts.

I like the fun videos that people post of their pets.

I’m looking forward to when the weather improves and it’s nice light dry evenings again so I can spend a lot more time outdoors for sports & rec and a lot less time indoors online. I am WAY too glued to my phone screen all day. Hoping this is more of a covid routine and I’ll break it when I want to.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I've cut my Facebook time drastically over the years. I feel better since doing so.

Wrong Planet is a blessing since human contact is limited now.

I have a fake FB account for marketplace and climbing partners only. No friends no drama no corporate media.

Unfortunately, I've found over the last couple years that I do not have the function or thinking ability to not take everything seriously. Because of that, I've weaned off of most of my social media. No Facebook, no Twitter.

I still use YouTube and I still use forums. That's about as much social media as I use.

Online discussions use clearer language and a longer time-frame than person-to-person. Unfortunately for me, that makes EVERY comment about condemning particular groups, no matter how tiny, register as a personal "out to get me" attack to my brain and body, without fail, every time. I'd actually go so far as to say social media is WORSE for my mental health than in-person discussions, and I already have enough trouble with those.

I also have to wean almost completely off of news at this point. Every time I try to use a news site, I wind up running into one or two little facts that lead me down a wiki walk into something that is COMPLETELY incompatible with what I was taught in school or college or the media. I can't take it anymore.


EDIT: Honestly, what I can say is if it stresses you nearly as much as what I've described above, and the toxicity is that pervasive, then definitely cut off from social media.

I find it interesting that you report that more people are abandoning it though. The social media thing strikes me as an experiment that just didn't work out.

YouTube is cool if you know what you're doing. There's usually lots of special interest content on there. But I don't use any other social media. (I don't use an account for YouTube, either.)