Social media was the greatest invention of the last decade. And also the worst. It is causing all sorts of problems in society and personal relationships to the point where a lot of smart people are wondering whether it is more harmful than good.
At the start, there was just Facebook and MySpace. But then over the following years, everything changed. We got social media sites for everything to the point where it became extremely intrusive.
Eventually, people began quitting. At first it was the victims of bullying. But now there are all kinds of people searching Google for how to delete Instagram off their PCs and smartphones.
So why are so many people quitting? Let’s take a look.
It Wastes Time
Five years ago, spending as much time as possible on social media was seen as a way to boost your career. We were moving to a new online digital world where your success would have a one-to-one relationship with the number of likes and comments each of your posts got.
But it soon became eminently clear that that wasn’t the case at all. Yes – some people made a bit of money from social media. But the vast majority of regular users couldn’t generate an income from these platforms. That just wasn’t possible.
Social media is a massive waste of time for most people. Spending two hours scrolling through feeds is a valuable chunk of the day that a person could use to cook a meal, study or work.
It Harms Self-Worth
Most people judge themselves by how they compare to others. And, in that sense, social media has been a disaster. That’s because it is a tool that people use to measure whether their friends have better lives than they do.
Instagram is a great example of this. Many people have friends who always seem to have money and time to travel and “enjoy their best lives.” They are always with beautiful people and smiling from ear to ear in every photo with a stunning, exotic backdrop in the background.
When the average person sees images like this, they wonder where their lives went so wrong. How come their friends have all this time and money and they don’t?
Intellectually, they know that it is a rigged game. Their friends are cherry picking photos to show them at their best. But, emotionally, it doesn’t matter. It still hurts.
Quitting social media removes people from the propaganda of their friends. It lets you live your life on your terms without worrying about whether it lives up to the standards of somebody else.
Being Offline Is Better
In today’s world, going offline feels a little bit like “going clean.” So many websites drip-feed up with rewards designed to keep us in a dopamine cycle, particularly social media.
Getting away from the digital world and reconnecting with your roots actually just feels better than being hunched over a computer screen. You soon learn that the real joys in life are simple and not related to how much traffic your channel is getting.
It’s Addictive
Related to this is the idea that social media is addictive. Researchers are finding that it lights up many of the same regions of the brain as illicit substances, creating dependency in some people. The only way to avoid this is to use it in moderation – or not at all.
The problem is now so severe that many clinics are developing treatment programs that attempt to help people detox from social media. Withdrawal can cause extreme anxiety in some individuals.
Privacy Concerns
Lack of privacy is a major reason why so many people are leaving social media platforms. These platforms allow large corporations to collect unprecedented amounts of detail about the people using them and then deliver targeted ads. Never before have companies known so much about their customers.
The worry, though, is how employers and other people are using this data. We have already seen instances of companies trawling through job candidate social media profiles to “see what they are really like.” And there are also concerns that the government too could use information collected by social media to spy on citizens.
In general, people need some privacy. So because social media is a threat to this, it is inherently risky.
It Can Make You More Negative
If you want to see how negative social media can get, spend an afternoon on Twitter. The platform makes you feel like you’re either on one side or another. And that can divide people and make it harder for everyone to get along.
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