TWIFT | Lifestyle | 5 Reasons For Quitting Fucking Social Media

5 Reasons For Quitting Fucking Social Media

I am reading an article in which one more psychologist reports that social media is evil. Reading to the end, I mentally agree with the author for 100%. And I open Instagram to check how many likes my photo has from yesterday’s concert.

Social media is like fast food – harmful but fucking yummy. And we all understand that it’s better to eat healthy food to look cool and feel great. But a burger with cola or a cake is much tastier, isn’t it?

I decided to put together a list of reasons to quit social media. It is necessary to somehow motivate those who are strong in reason, but weak in will.

1. It’s a waste of time

The most obvious reason. Scrolling on social media is perhaps the most common form of faffing. Instead of working, cleaning up the flat, or meeting friends, we slide our finger across the screen.

I don’t know about you, but I always have “very important” reasons to open Facebook or Instagram. What if one of my friends has a birthday today, and I don’t even know about it? Or someone left a comment that needs to be answered urgently. Or just be aware of what’s going on. I hate it when, during a conversation, one of my friends casually throws: “Haven’t you heard? Seriously?!”.

This probability of getting something useful out of social media is extremely low. To do this, you will need to scroll through tons of memes, aphorisms, long posts of amateur writers, useless selfies, and videos of cats and dogs.

But let’s say you are not trying to use social media for good. And honestly admit to yourself that you want to check the feed. Just 5 minutes to defuse. Oh, David has already watched Tenet! You need to read his review to understand if this film is worth your time. And Olivia and Harper are at a party – and they didn’t invite you, un-fucking-believable! Oh, your ex posted a photo of her new boyfriend. Where is his profile? You have to make sure that he is less handsome than you!

And then 5 minutes, 10, 15 pass, then 30. You, by a great effort of will, tear yourself away from the smartphone screen. You do something useful. Well, you’ve worked – it’s time to rest. 5 minutes of respite, just to check the feed and back to work. And history repeats itself.

Familiar situation? How much time do you think you waste every day scrolling like that?

2. Social media takes away our free will

Gadget addiction is certainly not the same as alcohol or drug addiction. But any addiction deprives us of free will.

One of the main goals of social networks is to make us spend as much time on them as possible. To do this, you need to form an addiction to a huge amount of content and public attention. This addiction makes us anxious. Without noticing it, we join in the race for likes and subscribers. And we begin to measure our value based on their number. But this is fucking bullshit!

3. It distorts reality

For me, among the reasons to stop using social media, this is the strongest one. It’s like a world of crooked mirrors, where everything is exactly the opposite.

One friend of mine makes at least 3 posts every day. And in almost each of them, she assures that she is happy and satisfied with her appearance and her life. And I look at her posts and every time I think: “I don’t fucking believe you.”

Judge for yourself – if a girl is doing well, will she shout about it at every corner? No, she will just enjoy life. And if someone repeats, like a mantra, “I’m fine,” it means she tries to convince herself of this first of all. Fool yourself by fooling others.

Here’s another story. Another friend of mine once complained to me in a personal conversation that she gained 20 pounds during the quarantine. And Bob’s your uncle! A few days later, I saw her post on Facebook, where she was glad that her fitness club reopened. And so she asks her subscribers to confess in the comments who gained how much during the quarantine. At the same time, she claimed: “Personally, I have neither lost weight nor gained weight ­– I remained at the same weight.” Surprise, surprise.

And according to my observations, these two stories do not stand out from the general context. We all know that people lie. It’s even easier to lie on social media.

Are you sure you want to consume such content?

4. Social media makes us feel worse

It’s no secret that we constantly compare ourselves to others. It is also no secret that this is unconstructive – psychologists unanimously say that it destroys our self-esteem.

Social networks have generated irrationally high standards of beauty and strict requirements for social status. We look at the ideal profiles of bloggers, friends, and fall into the illusion that anyone but us has a beautiful and interesting life.

Photos of friends on the seashore remind me that I didn’t manage to earn money to go on vacation. A selfie of my friend with her soulmate seems to say: “Look, I have a boyfriend. And you don’t bitch.”

I’m not talking about the millions of photos of delicious salads with smoothies, slender legs, and flat stomachs. All these Cinder-fucking-ellas from Disney-fucking-land.

And somehow it turns out that beautiful photos and stories of friends only make us feel gutted. Is it worth it?

5. Social networks make us miss life

A couple of days ago, I visited a concert of my favorite musician for the first time. I waited for several years for him to come to my city.

The organizers did their best and the sound, lights, and decorations were smashing. The audience and atmosphere were also super cool. One of the best nights in recent months.

And do you know what I was thinking about while listening to my favorite tracks? Is there enough stage light right now to get a good photo? And what to write in a post with this photo on Instagram? I wonder how many likes it will collect? My ex will see that I’m having a good time without him. Holly Fuck!

And this happens all the time. We miss hundreds of real-life moments while taking photos, scrolling through the feed, checking likes, writing comments, or responding to them.

We spend too much time and energy on virtual interaction. At the same time, our needs do not disappear anywhere. We still need real communication with real people. To see a face, to hear a voice, to touch, to do something together. But social media blocks our needs. We kind of already got our share of social interaction. Although in reality, we didn’t.

Ok, guys, I have a few more reasons for quitting social media to name you. I’ll just check the Instagram feed if there is anything important. I’ll be back in a minute…

Related Articles   Related Articles    Related Articles   Related Articles    Related Articles   Related Articles    Related Articles   Related Articles