So last week I had a small moment, a wobble if you will, where I wanted to shut down all my social media accounts.
I’ve been feeling very disillusioned with humanity in general but especially on social media. I cant handle the images of dead children and mauled animals. I cant stand the self riotous lecturing and sanctimonious bullshit. My eye twitches every time something that is meant to be lighthearted and funny is taken overly seriously.
I get that there are causes and issues close to peoples hearts (as there are a few close to mine) and I encourage constructive conversations and the sharing of knowledge. What I cant deal with is the ‘I’m right and you’re wrong therefore you’re a bad person and need to be raked over the coals’ mentality.
What happened to engaging with people, to sharing knowledge and learning new things, making friends and having fun? What happened to the ‘social’ in social media?
I took a few days to think about it and have decided that instead of kicking SM to the curb entirely I would rather whittle down the people, pages and brands that I follow to a more manageable and social level.
This means brands that are not relevant are going. People that do not know personally and that do not interact with me (and that I do not interact with) are going. People who post images and links to violent and gory stories are going? People on soap boxes are going. People who cant take a joke and want to clutch their pearls and wag their fingers are going.
I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’m not. I have moments when I take things too seriously or climb on my own soap box and I’m working on not doing that anymore either.
I’m pretty sure I will upset more than a few people. Cant be helped though. My mental well being is more important.
I have done exactly the same Gina. I unfollow or unfriend people or brands that is filled with negative content. I simply could not deal with it any more.
I have just returned to social media and it still feels clean and simple. I’m not following stuff that isn’t relevant to me and I haven’t looked up people I used to follow but didn’t really have a connection with. I did accidentally delete the downloaded data I saved from my old social media accounts, which is a bit sad because there were some big moments in there. But mostly I like that I get to start over, minus a lot of the bullshit.
Cleaning up who and what you follow can help make SM a little more “social” again.
I regularly unfollow or unlike pages and people that I first – do not remember following in the first place, and second – make me feel shirty.
Such a good idea! I need to do a major clean up of my SM. Too many pages liked and accounts followed for competitions, which I actually dont even care for. I hope you’re having a better time online now.