Modern human culture is dominated by things called Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and others.
I’m only active on two of these and that’s overwhelming enough.
Navigating these apps (or sites if one uses these via a computer) can be like trying to escape out of a minefield.
Those looking for a pie recipe may find themselves getting trapped in a world of inappropriate content, political criticism, vicious arguing, and just plain lies.
To a fault, I try to be nice and not pass off my opinions as facts, but I really don’t think advances in social media platforms and technology are making this world better.
Quote me: Social media is making this world a worse place and bringing out the worst in us.
Quote me again: We do not need it anymore and we’d be better off without it.
Some rebuttals
Before we start ridding ourselves of our devices and vices, I’ll throw in a few counter-arguments for the sake of dialogue.
Social media platforms have done a wonderful job of keeping people connected.
I get to see wedding, baby, and other pictures from people I haven’t seen in five, 10, 15, or more years.
I can communicate quickly with people who I don’t see all that often and “group chats” are great and a lot easier to set up than a conference call.
Sending photos and videos to friends and family is a high-resolution and prompt achievement that makes us feel like we truly are living in the future.
The Catholic Herald and the Diocese of Madison effectively use social media to inform, invite, share, and link in a fast and efficient way.
Social media also lets us connect with people who we wouldn’t normally meet under what used to be considered normal circumstances.
All this being said. We still don’t need social media.
Life without it
If I woke up tomorrow without my Facebook or Twitter, my life would look different, even though I got along without these things once upon a time.
I wouldn’t waste time seeing what anyone with a keyboard or phone has to say about my favorite sports teams.
I wouldn’t get stuck reading arguments among Catholics over the Mass, the pope, COVID, or other debatable issues.
I wouldn’t see the latest book and music releases that I don’t need, but “OOO! I WANT THAT!”
I wouldn’t feel immediately compelled to post, tweet, DM, or anything else when the smallest thing happens of any sort. I might just have to deal with it or keep it to myself.
I wouldn’t be subconsciously comparing myself to people I know, or worse yet, people I don’t know but they show up on my feeds because . . . algorithms.
I realize a little self-control can go a long way to ridding my environment of these woes, but imagine if everyone had these social tugs gone from their lives.
The challenge
For those of us who have stuck a lot of our lives and day-to-day living into our social media, this might be a lot to consider, but it’s worth some thought.
The challenge is simply this: Live your life without social media.
If enough people do this, maybe we’ll come up with better ways to use the modern technology we’ve been blessed with.
I don’t want to take away the baby pictures, the video calls with grandparents, or the sending out prayer intentions to people from all over, but I do want to take away all of the bad stuff.
I’ve said it many times but we’re better than this.
We deserve better than platforms that create a common bad versus a common good.
Lent will be here soon. That’s a great time to live social media-free.
See how it goes. See what you could do without. See how you can make life work without logging on so much.
If enough of us say it and live it, it’ll be true. WE DON’T NEED SOCIAL MEDIA!