Social Media and Well-Being
Let me just say, right off, that I am only on Twitter (X) and YouTube as far as social media goes. I am not on any Telegrams or other channels or platforms. I get on Reddit only when there is a question I have that I want a specific answer to. I canceled my Facebook a few years back and I am not on Instagram. I am more interested in social media for the information and news aspect of it. I do not post about myself or follow friends and family on social media. If I want to follow up with friends and family, I call them or meet up with them in person. Otherwise, I feel like my whole life would be consumed by social medialike I would spend no time doing anything else other than liking and following or posting, and it is all already time-consuming enough just scrolling through X for news that I most likely dont even really need.
With that preamble, I would say that one of the reasons I am not on Facebook or Instagram is exactly for the reasons described in the readings. For example, there is something about being on Facebook that really just
…it really doesnt help anyone. It is like taking part in a waking daydream that distracts from the ultimate point of life. What is life really all about? That is a big question that does not get enough consideration, in my opinion. Life is filled with so many distractions that keep us from thinking about that question very deeply. Teens especially need some help considering these questionsbut teachers, I have found, are not always qualified or of much help. The social media consumption is really just a symptom of a much larger and deeper problem, which is that people have nihilism at their corenothing to live for, nothing to believe in that is worth believing in, so they build shrines to themselves on Facebook and Instagram and wonder why they are not…
