Is It Me, Or Am I Getting Old?

Yes, another post about social media.

As I get older, the less and less I feel about using social media.

I use just three sites nowadays. Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

I don’t really consider YouTube a social media platform. I consume many videos there, but hardly ever engage. I used to use it a lot more when my son created his channel (which is now dormant).

I’ve all but disconnected from Facebook — I have a page there where I post these stories (automatically using Buffer) and I essentially redirect everyone back to Medium… I can count on one hand how many times I’ve opened the app this year!

I don’t use Snapchat — why would I?

I rarely, when I’m told to, open Instagram!

TikTok — no thanks… I looked at it and can see how hours and hours can be wasted as videos pass by.

Please, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not against social media, but I do think it’s become all-consuming. The pressure to post, be liked, comment and build a following is too much.

Ironically, these very platforms have a minimum age limit to join of 13 years (still too young in my opinion) to be able to have an account. I don’t see that’s enforced very much.

The audience is getting younger and younger, and the innocence of youth is being eroded.

Oh My Goodness! I sound a right old curmudgeon, don’t I?

But kids don’t play these days.

They don’t get outside and really play like we used to.

When they do, they record it. Film it. Photograph it. They don’t just live in the moment.

Actually, photographing and filming isn’t the issue. We used to do that, with our Instamatic cameras. Remember them?

It’s the posting of them, for all and sundry to see, immediately.

Why?

I’m not even going to go into detail about the effect social media can have on their mental health and how influencers are not the best influence!

Ooh! Controversial!

They constantly need to be ‘validated’ by their friends. When they post a picture of themselves at a party, everyone ‘likes’ it and comments; “you’re so gorgeous”, “wow, sexy”, “looking so good”.

This cannot be healthy. What happens when this stops?

What happens when someone doesn’t comment. Not maliciously, but just doesn’t comment? How does the poster feel about this?

There needs to be a way to tell these kids that social media is not the be-all and end-all.

Real friends do not need to comment on a post. They can tell you face-to-face.

Social media, in a sense, is unsociable.

I wrote a story about this recently.

I think I’m going to stop now.

I’m going to end up going down a rabbit hole and never come out.

I know I’m not the only one who thinks like this, but as you enjoy your morning coffee or afternoon tea, please let me know what you think.

Thank you for reading

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