I am a nobody, so what I am saying here is my own opinion and the way I currently feel. I think it is time for #endsocialapps. There are many compelling reasons to delete our social accounts. From it is tearing this country apart to relationships reduced to an app. I recently deleted my X and Facebook accounts, because my relationships were reduced to an app along with other reasons. While I will probably miss out with a lot, but I am ready to move on from centralized Social Media. I am not quite ready for Fediverse, but that might be a future option where I can control my data. Though this blog post is only a pebble on a super highway, I hope that I am joined by others with similar passions and we can pop some tires of platforms that run over us.
I deleted my X accounts as my voice was a drop in an ocean of voices and I was a revenue stream for X. At one point I used it to get my news, but as the algorithm realized I didn't fit in political norms, it showed me more extreme content. There wasn't much point in posting anything on it as I was posting to thin air. Yes, people probably read it, but nothing really stuck. Even this blog post will probably get lost in the void, but I was inspired to write this because of things going or not going on in my life. There are less trolls here as well, there are a lot of people out there that get their jollies out of putting other people down, especially on X.
I deleted my Facebook account because it reduced my relationships to an app and again I was a revenue stream for Facebook. Sure I get to see what old friends were up to when I lived in places I have lived in the past. Maybe even see what a classmate is thinking or doing. Though, like X, it got political and the ads were showing me more of what fed my addictions. The posts were of course organized that way as well. Sure I get to see where a classmate or an old friend went on vacation some event they went to or something they accomplished, yet there was no connection. I would also get some random meme about something that I might agree with or enrage me, that people posted too. There were trolls in my friends group too, yet I kept them around for some unknown need. None of which is mentally or socially healthy and talking in person would be better. While I will probably never see some of these people again, given what some of them post it is probably a good thing. Granted much of it isn't bad, it just has gotten too much and spurred unhealthy social norms. Especially given the current political climate.
It has come to a point where the benefits of social media do not out weight the side effects. While I agree there are a place for social media, but there are better options. My sisters use social media for their businesses. One, at one point, was going to start a website, but never got around to building it. While the social media platforms can be a good starting point for new businesses, it shouldn't be your only way to get the word out about your business. Sooner or later, like all technology, a social media platform will die. One might take its place, but you shouldn't be relying on one platform to do your business. It isn't the most professional things to do to give a link to a social media page to sell your wares. There are plenty of market places out there to do that for you or look at making your own site.
Media apps like Youtube or Tiktok are not much better when it comes to their algorithms. Yes they both can be educational, they can also be cesspools of misinformation, lies and addiction. Even the educational pieces can be misleading.
I might be a random monkey randomly typing on a keyboard, so be it. We need to talk and learn from each other in person. That is the only way we will fix what social media has broken. So reach out so someone you only see on Social Media and start talking.