My troubled relationship with social media

The introduction of the internet to my life was initially rather slow and unassuming. I can still remember this sturdy laptop my parents had when I was a kid, I took very little interest in it and mostly just used it to watch films. We didn’t have any internet connection so it was only useful for typing, yet even then I knew there was more to it.

I’ve always found technology quite intimidating and for a “gen z’er” I would say I’ve struggled to embrace internet culture. I’ve always felt a step behind and not entirely part of social media, this probably stems from my introduction to it. Most of my friends had Facebook before 13 and went about socialising with each other. I had to wait, as instructed by my parents, and by then the novelty had worn off for others. Then we moved to the fusion of the phone and social media apps, which again I was behind on. Things like BBM, Instagram etc were popular forms of communication for teenagers and again forged this form of online communication. Always late to the party, I eventually got access but never really grasped the “social” aspect of social media, instead I over consumed content and found it soothing to discover an endless world of posts. I can remember how frantically I moved through the online space, trying to catch up and be part of this thing that my friends had already been a part of for years. I did so with all the tact of a novice, never really getting it right.

Why am I writing this? Well I want to change this. I feel social media is an incredible resource but I know I’ve been misusing it for years now. From my many nights spent scrolling and liking pictures on Instagram, or sleuthing for the origin post of whatever nonsense online drama is trending, I’ve developed a way of using social media that is inherently anti social. I’m finally frustrated with my incredible ability to waste my own time and have decided to try something new. It’s just so easy to feel fulfilled by excessive media consumption and although I have improved greatly in the amount of time I spend doing these things, I still feel I’m not in control of how I use it. To be honest its been well over 8 years since I got my first social media account and I still don’t know how to use this thing.

There are so many endless possibilities with social media but I’ve now come to the conclusion that choosing to forget about the “social” part of the form is detrimental to the outcome. I have seen people share online and wandered why they do so but I realise it is just a part of human nature and if I’m going to be on this thing for hours I might as well say something.

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