Social Media
I want to talk about social media. By social media, I mean platforms used to communicate globally, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. I don’t involve platforms like LINE, Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord you can’t “post” in one place and expect all of the world to be able to know your post. I also don’t involve niche platforms like Letterboxd, Hardcover, or Goodreads.
Social media helped me in some ways. I admit that Twitter is a swift medium of news, YouTube videos are enjoyable entertainment, Instagram helped me connect with my friends (we talk and share memes, a lot).
Some people treat social media like a time machine. They upload pictures/videos of moments they deem unforgettable, eventually forget it (because well, we’re humans), and experience a sense of nostalgia when they stumble upon those posts again in the future. I like those concepts but I don’t think I’ll adopt it because of privacy reasons.
Socmed brings good to me, to my friends, to my family. But there’s a part of me that’s against social media.
There’s this dilemma where I am given 4 choices
- Post all (both good and bad) things
- Post good things only
- Post bad things only
- Post nothing
Well, not choosing or “still deliberating” means I fall into the 4th choice. I am not very fond of the first choice because of privacy reasons (again). And specifically in this blog, I want to talk about the second and the third.
When I see my friends doing the second…I feel utterly dissatisfied with my life. No, it’s not like I envy their achievements, new girlfriends, or thrilling adventure…I just feel that I haven’t done something meaningful with my life. There’s this tendency of comparing my “mundane” and “boring” life to whatever good they post on socmed. I don’t want others who have low self-esteem like me experience something like this.
When I see people doing the third…I feel conflicted, whether to empathize or criticize them. Whenever appear a though to trashtalk or criticize, deep down I know that I don’t know this person and I shouldn’t judge them. However, their way of thinking is fallacious and can infect others.
I guess I will stay on the 4th choice.