Stepping Back From Social Media

I’ve been distant from all social media platforms for some time now. I closed off my Facebook account a while ago, my Instagram account is stale, blogging never became a regular thing. Furthermore, I’ve been clinging to my Twitter account by a thread just to stay informed on the research progress for Long Covid. But man, I’m tired.

The whole selling point of the social media concept for me was to connect with my friends and share our experiences with each other. Maybe meet a few new people, too. But nowadays, the platforms are entirely oriented for content creation and money making, and it feels so repulsive. Everyone is trying to sell you something, or they try to gain followers for ad revenue. It’s all about money these days.

And Twitter is so toxic. Ever since Elmo bought the platform, it has become unhinged. Everyone attacks each other under the banner of free speech or being an advocate for something. I tried being part of those advocating movements, but they are toxic too. Everyone just hates each other, and they are pretty open about it. And Elmo is just pouring petrol into the hate bonfire.

I’m blaming a lot of industry leaders for this, but I’m mostly blaming the people for this situation. Can’t anyone see how toxic it has become on ALL the platforms? Can’t we share anything with each other without an ulterior motive or trying to sell each other something?

I’m distancing myself from all of this for a bit, and although I’ll keep tabs on Twitter for LC research, I’ll keep that to a minimum too. I’m really tired of people.