Venting Social Media ruined me

[GTNHisLOVE]

Social Media sounds (or sounded) like a good idea, to be honest;
Online platforms for millions of people to communicate with each other, share content or knowledge, discuss and debate important topics, etc..

That really doesn't sound bad, right? It's easy to overlook what humans are capable of when they're hidden behind a screen, represented by mere pixels displayed on your monitor/screen. Absolute strangers, NPCs, randos, weirdos and creeps, influence you on a daily basis. You know nothing about them, but the way they talk to you, the way they look or sound… everything influences you.

I wonder where/how/what I'd be today right now, if I never downloaded Discord, Twitter, TikTok, etc, or if I never joined various forums online. Would I have found out about me being trans (just for example)? I didn't know about trans people at all, until I made my first queer friend at the ripe age of 14 on Discord. They "educated" me on the topic and.. would you look at that! One year later, at 15 years, I found out I'd much rather be a girl.

What if I never met them? Would I still be who I am today? I'm sure theres a possibility that I wouldn't have changed anything about myself. I probably would've never even considered hurting myself just to get my mind cleared. I would've never considered abusing substances to get away from my thoughts. I would've never considered suicide? I don't know about that one.

Everyday I'm confronted with people who have everything I would ever want to have. They all look so pretty, so perfect, they all do what I want to do. Looking at them for hours on end, staring at them, their bodies. It makes me jealous. I'm very much aware that I'll never be like them/have what they have. I know, yeah. I still long for it. I still cut myself because I don't look like TikTok person xyz. I still take drugs because Discord person abc looked cool doing that. I still starve myself because Twitter person 123 has a 13 BMI. I still want to hang myself because I will never, never ever, have and be what I want to have and be.
I get shown that the things I want are very real, oh yeah. They're definitely real things. Many people have them. But I don't, and I never will.

I'll never be at peace if it keeps going like this. There's only one way to eternal inner peace.

 

[Throwawayacc3]

I don't know if this is complete distrust of organisations (police, schooling, medical, etc), autism or OCD but whenever I'm doing anything I always check what is the motive of this person/organsiaiton? If there is a money trail and it can be followed then you find answers.

Lay off people and maybe try and find your cope/"healing" in animals. People online (doesn't really fit this forum) but all the other places are no good deep down. The types that if you threw a bag of money at them all their morals would go out the window. I've had this in the real world with property and told the person making the offer to me, put it on your main offer so it goes to the seller. It exists in the real world. It definitely exists online.

It's up to you but maybe think about anything that isn't irreversible. If you add on a few years your mind may change or may stay the same but you have a bit of time to think about it. Rushing into things isn't the best thing.

Just a little babble but it's up to you. Discord private chats people are ok but public = mess. YouTube. Twitter, etc all shite.

 

[UKscotty]

Getting rid of social media is the best thing anyone can do for their mental health and productivity.

 

[lamargue]

yea. we are far too dependent on social media. it has ruined my idea of people and relationships in particular, though. what irks me is that there are some who selectively acquire what a society will call 'desirable' traits, even if is unhealthy for others to try emulating these, but will also produce people that acquire all the worst traits from exposure to what is essentially an internet gulag. i just think if people were less disinterested in monitoring children's interaction with the internet, then there would be a reduction in these kinds of individuals. it's over for future generations

 

[EvisceratedJester]

Everyday I'm confronted with people who have everything I would ever want to have. They all look so pretty, so perfect, they all do what I want to do. Looking at them for hours on end, staring at them, their bodies. It makes me jealous. I'm very much aware that I'll never be like them/have what they have. I know, yeah.

Even those pretty people will never be like the versions of themselves that they post online. Many of them are wearing large amounts of makeup, are using filters and Photoshop, and are posing in a certain way. It's not uncommon for most of them to also get plastic surgery too. Real people, who have never had work done, rarely look like influencers.

I think her videos usually do a good job of highlighting this:




Also, these people rarely have everything. I think a great example of this is from a story that we were told about by a lady who came to our school back in grade 7 to talk about things like body image. She mentioned how her friend posted these amazing vacation photos and how jealous she was of her, only for her friend to come back ranting about how horrible her vacation was because she was sick the entire time. These people present an image of themselves and their life online and this image doesn't reflect their reality. They are trying to create a persona that people want to live vicariously through, not show the authentic parts of themselves.

 

[ConfusedClouds]

Social media is broadly people posting their highlights reel (with no context of how much/exactly 'what' there is between 'highlights') and scrolling typically happens in your lower moments. So you are then directly and unfairly comparing your worse moments with others' best moments.

Saying that, it is also not such a simple conclusion to just remove social media. I have not had any since about 2018 and it does also contribute to social isolation - various events/groups can be 'social media' organised/operated and you need close and trusted friends/individuals to remember to loop you in individually every single time to these scenarios. I was at school with the beginnings of facebook and uni as smartphones were only just a thing (and cameras/connections on them not good enough to document everyone's every move). So I also probably don't appreciate how much more society 'runs' through these apps now. It works for me personally in a lot of ways but I am probably missing out on opportunities in others.

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

The internet in general ruined all of us. It ruined humanity. Whatever advantages it created are far outweighed by the ill effects. I'm 44, so I remember very clearly how things used to be before society was stripped of it's innocence and humility by the online experience.

 

[divinemistress36]

Social media is contributing to uprise in suicides . Social media is mostly trash

 

[alltoomuch2]

Getting rid of social media is the best thing anyone can do for their mental health and productivity.

Just got rid of Facebook today.

 

[alltoomuch2]

Social media is contributing to uprise in suicides . Social media is mostly trash

Trash and bullying

 

[lita-lassi]

Even those pretty people will never be like the versions of themselves that they post online. Many of them are wearing large amounts of makeup, are using filters and Photoshop, and are posing in a certain way. It's not uncommon for most of them to also get plastic surgery too. Real people, who have never had work done, rarely look like influencers.

I think her videos usually do a good job of highlighting this:




Also, these people rarely have everything. I think a great example of this is from a story that we were told about by a lady who came to our school back in grade 7 to talk about things like body image. She mentioned how her friend posted these amazing vacation photos and how jealous she was of her, only for her friend to come back ranting about how horrible her vacation was because she was sick the entire time. These people present an image of themselves and their life online and this image doesn't reflect their reality. They are trying to create a persona that people want to live vicariously through, not show the authentic parts of themselves.

omg stephanie lange is fantastic! im glad you posted this its surreal that EVERYONE is using filters and presenting a very bs false narrative. so absurd. never had social media and i never will personally; i already struggle with self esteem issues as is, i dont need to make it worse. as soon as the stats about depression, ed's and suicide rates of young girls started getting revealed surrounding ig and the data collection and aggressive monitoring of everything came out more and more (cambridge analytica just as a starting point), i started laughing at anyone who suggested i get a fb or anything account. theyre not just severely dangerous for self image/societys health but privacy as well :/