Exiting (Anti)Social Media

Everyone around me is telling me that I am crazy that I’m taking such a hasty decision. It might be. But I am slowly going to eliminate all social media from my life and be working on writing quotes, poems, articles, and maybe books!

I’ll put my analysis here and leave it to your wisdom and judgement as to why this action was taken and if it will be proven as a wise decision in the coming future. So let us begin.

I have always been telling people through all the types of communication possible that the social media today is constructed in a way such that people are bound to it, glued to it, and compelled to be there until they forget who they truly are. The applications were introduced to the world saying that the intention is to connect people from different parts of the world.

People got connected. Bingo! Now, slowly the algorithms started looping in, telling people without telling what to see, whose feed, whose advertisement will appear on their walls, and so on. Very slowly and cautiously, it (social media) taught people how to get influenced in a wicked way by seeing someone’s happiness that they share on the apps.

Still, the applications are looking innocent here. Nobody can frame them yet. But people are getting affected, envious, jealous, anxious because of these platforms that so-called connected people and ruined their lives at once.

We humans are no better than the external mechanisms that control our free will and the very thought process and curiosity that shaped the world into what it is today. We were told by some honest experts to be careful while handling these platforms. These are not just tools but can be easily converted into weapons of mass distraction.

But no one paid heed to them and here we are. Distracted. Disturbed. Devastated. And I am not saying this out of enmity or inability to handle these apps, but these have been my observations too.

Have you ever noticed the screen properly on your phones lately? Whenever you want to leave a platform, the apps have a certain type of message telling you that they are sorry to see you go. And the message is loaded with soft words and emojis that might make some people sentimental.

But the reality is completely opposite of this. Nobody gives a flying f**k if you go off. No one is sorry to see you go. These apps are designed to make you feel more important than you really are. And I am saying all of that on this article because when I will read it again; it is talking to myself in the mirror and checking if I have gone off track.

Now, the platforms have taken a large corpus of data and have designed some dangerous algorithms that it is impossible to outsmart all of them. So, we will fall into the trap set by one of them and the vicious cycle will continue to occur. You are instantly given what you want on social media, making you think that whatever you want is within your reach. And when you do not get something in real life, you will compare with others and crib about having something you don’t really need. This is chaotic, insane, and inhuman. But the apps want exactly this.

We can keep on arguing what is better for us. With or without these things, life still goes on. The main problem is that the natural flow of life is disturbed and tampered with. And we are reduced to a stupid species, not being able to concentrate over 40 mins in and entire day of 1440 minutes.

We will keep on watching how other people are doing things in their life. We’ll find them aesthetic and appealing even if we don’t know the reason why it makes sense or if it makes sense at all. Some people even complain why their life is so much like the other people’s when they fail to understand it is their mistake that they are following people that they don’t know, to buy things that don’t make sense, to may be impress people they don’t approve of. This has been the opening scene of the movie “fight club” where a conversation like this takes place.

Engaging on these platforms is not a big deal. But, disengaging from them becomes a big deal sometimes. Just like alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs, this has withdrawal symptoms. Discomfort will follow. Questions will follow. Doubts will emerge. Slowly, it may be better. But exiting the platforms doesn’t mean we exit the social life. There is life, there are people, places beyond the binaries of the apps that we’re glued to as of now.

I have said as much as I could in one go about exiting the media as it may not add more value to what our lives really are. I would never want it to be a black hole at the center of a galaxy which controls everything it can in its vicinity, and its size keeps increasing as it consumes more of us, leaving us less than who we can be.

As the old people have repeatedly said that to grow a tree, we must cut a part of it that gets toxic for its growth, and I guess it is time we listened to what sensible people say. I would like to end this with two songs that will sum up pretty much everything that I said in a poetic way:

1)“In another time, in another time
There is so much more than what we see online
Will we actually live instead of watching lives
In another time, in another time?”
Song: In Another time
Band: Disturbed
Album: Evolution

2)“…you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!”
Song: Hotel California
Band: The eagles