If moderated well, social media can be a great way to communicate with not just friends, but also anyone with mutual interests. I haven’t had a pleasant experience on most sites, but I would not have met some of my best friends (like Hades Fonda) if it was not for Discord. I also get most of my entertainment from Youtube, which can be considered social media. Still, I watch long form content that has some sort of meaning, or at least something that has no brainrot or tone-deaf vibe. YouTube Shorts scrolling is disabled, to protect myself from excessive doomscrolling and to keep my attention span the way it is. As the previous message implies, I don’t only keep away from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, but I also refuse to use TikTok.
I actually had a Facebook account, which I created when I was 10 years old because literally everyone in my family had one. You had to be at least 13 years old to open a Facebook account, but my parents encouraged me to lie about my age anyway so I can just communicate with family members who live in Mexico or Guatemala. Nowadays, I do not use it even for that purpose because I do not trust Meta at all. I find their use of people’s personal data for financial gain distasteful, to say the least. Even worse, it is a cesspool for misinformation, which can also be said for any social media platform in general.
Left-wing and right-wing ideologies use social media to promote their candidates and views. But on my end, any kind of misinformation I run into is from a conservative source. Or even worse, from an account that is AI generated in every way. At first I was slightly intrigued by how quick and easy AI can create images and videos. That is until I not only got tired of the quick and dull style it is known for. I prefer putting actual thought and heart into any content I may want to create in the future (such as this article). Thanks to this mindset, it is easy for me to spot any sort of generated media and ignore it so I can focus on more meaningful tasks or content. Any political figure who has the nerve to believe that AI generated propaganda or promotional posts will get along well with everyone has lost my support and trust. I’d rather not consume media that insults my intelligence. If the more popular sites are promoting it rather than having effective moderation for these kinds of posts, then they are not worth my time.
Dedicating too much time to social media can change people, and not in a good way. A great example of this is my father. I like to think that he was once a decent person, one who actually treats his peers and family well. That has to be why my mother married him in the first place after all. Right now I find that hard to believe because for as long as I can remember, he is very sexist to a point where he always calls my mother “gorda” (calling her fat). At the time of writing this article, he has not spoken to my sister in about half a year, and she still lives under the same roof as him. All over baked goods, let’s just say. All he does now is lay in bed and scroll through TikTok on his tablet, and he has sent me some clips that are not only AI generated, but they spread offensive messages about how women should prioritize their husbands over their children. Even one where you children are not your friends. No wonder he won’t even speak to his own daughter anymore. He is insufferable, he flips out over the most childish reasons, and he only cares about himself. I do my best not to turn out like him by refusing to drink alcohol, and blocking harmful posts on any site I actually use.