Recently, I decided to delete Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok from my phone. It was a conscious choice I had to make after experiencing an anxious meltdown last week. Reddit wasn’t any better for me, and we all know where that place is headed. I haven’t deleted my accounts yet, but prioritizing the loss of easy access to those sites was important.
As usual, I feel better now. A lot of the content on those platforms brings me hateful and unpleasant feelings. It’s addicting, like a mess you just can’t seem to take your eyes off of. I had to be honest with myself and accept the truth that profit-driven social media has a net-negative impact on my life.
I’m glad I’m here now. I’ll never stop repeating this until it becomes untrue (hopefully not), but I enjoy being here. I don’t see this place as an alternative to anywhere else. It’s helping me break the habit of skipping long paragraphs of text and only relying on article titles at face value. The nuance present in several discussions feels more human.
Anyway, enough about me. How have your experiences been with other social media platforms? How do they compare to Beehaw?
I’m glad you feel better about it. I deactivated Facebook about a week ago on a whim, and days later the Reddit fiasco came about so I deleted my account there. I watch TikTok and this is the only other social platform I use. I’m unsure about how I feel about it. It feels isolating in a way. But you’re right. Doomscrolling on social media brings about mostly negative feelings. So far, this place has been positive, although some of the content I don’t care about, but at least I’m not looking through it mindlessly.