Photo Credit — hannahlmyers / Pixabay
I’m not the world’s most avid digital consumer but I have been on the widely reviled Book of Faces since 2004. Until I found it useful for promoting my writing, however, social media wasn’t that interesting. I only joined the shrieking masses on Twitter about a couple of years ago. By participating in the ever-popular writers’ lifts there I’ve accumulated just over 1000 followers. The number fluctuates as, I suppose, people decide I’m no fun or something. I post my weekly newsletter there and “like” just about anything Nina Turner says (Hello, Somebody!). Otherwise, meh.
Oh, and Instagram? What is that about?
Yet, here’s the thing, I am as strung out as anyone when it comes to our digital gizmos. I marvel when Neil, my BFF, leaves the apartment without his phone and he does that a lot. Not me. I pat myself down before I leave the apartment and recite: keys, money, bus pass, phone (to which I’ve now added hand sanitizer and mask). Then if I do manage to walk out without my phone, I go back. Same for wallet (money, bus pass) but I always carry spare masks, so that’s not a problem.
But does social media depress me?
Not even a little bit. Of course, let’s be clear. I am depressed and have been for, oh about two years now. Just not by social media. If you’re not profoundly affected by our current climate of mass psychosis, sickness, and death your level of denial is impressive. I applaud you but you should know denial isn’t to be trusted. It’s going to flip its skirts at you just when you need it most and move on to the next clueless bozo.
I sleep too much. I eat crap. I play way too much Snood (ask my partner). I open drafts of essays I’ve started and stare at the few words I’ve managed to get onto the screen. Then go back to bed.
But here’s what I don’t find myself doing: scrolling.
I give Twitter a spin and check out what the Facebook is nattering on about today. None of it is particularly compelling. I don’t feel like my life sucks compared to yours. Of course, we can thank our friend, the Virus, for that because your life sucks now, too. You’ve given up on sourdough and have plopped in front of whatever Netflix is dribbling? I feel ya.
What about BC (Before Covid)?
I have a friend who, with her partner, recently bought an adorable little bungalow on one of the Bay Islands outside Brisbane, Australia. Previous to that, she and her partner lived most of the year on his catamaran sailing all around the Gold Coast of Australia. They had her dog and his cat with them on the boat. They would post videos of whales spouting off in the distance when they’d rise in the morning. Now she posts snaps of them setting up housekeeping on an island that’s significantly smaller than the island I live on. There are palm trees and sea breezes and they’ll be back out on the catamaran from time to time.
Am I jealous of her life? Oh yeah. It looks idyllic AF! She’s a doll and I know she and her partner are happy.
Does it get me down to see her posts and videos? Not even remotely. I’m delighted that she and her partner — and her dog and his cat — found this darling home and are keeping the catamaran as well.
Thanks to the Facebook I have regular contact with friends who snowboard and mountain bike in Mammoth Lakes, California. You should see the awesome shots they post from up in the mountains. There are also good friends who live in Amsterdam and Prague and Berlin and Tombstone, AZ. I love seeing their posts.
And even though I’ve been living the same basic day over and over again since March 2020, I don’t find myself sinking into a morass of envy or depression when I see others enjoying their lives. If anything, it lifts my spirits a little to see that things are working out for them now. And since I post my share of “look at how much fun we’re having!” nonsense myself, I know that those happy shots of walks in the snow and Cecile B. DeMille sunsets aren’t the whole story.
And the jerks? What about the jerks?
If social media was populated solely by shining happy people, well okay that would be annoying, but (to me anyway) pretty benign. However, we all know that most of the noise on social media is toxic, angry, selfish, and fear-driven. And its decibel level rises daily as the events of the 3D world defy our wildest imaginings and keep getting crazier, more dangerous, and more ludicrous.
Doesn’t that racket depress me?
I guess it would if I felt sucked into its vortex. For whatever reason, I don’t. Right now the thing that affects me much more is that we’re two years into this pandemic and today over 2,000 people died of Covid yesterday (January 21, 2022) and it wasn’t even front-page news. That’s depressing. The strident name-calling and finger-pointing that fills the screen on Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else, that’s just so much background static. It’s like my tinnitus. It only registers occasionally and then fades again.
Right now — and for the first time in my memory — most of the world is in the same filthy, unreliable boat. It’s taken me days to write this because I keep losing my way and deciding it’s time for a nap. There’s nowhere to run to escape the nightmare we’ve created.
And my ability to shrug off whatever social media is yammering about could very well just be overload. Who cares what the Twits are on about when it’s almost certain that Delta and Omicron were only the opening acts?
So the spoiled white boys holding the controls of social media finally decided that censorship is the way to go? Who cares? That horse long ago left the barn.
When there are so many actual, three-dimensional crises blooming on all sides, how is the cackling online even keeping anyone’s attention?
So, no, social media is not depressing me. If anything, being able to check in with friends around the world and share silly memes is helping me hang onto whatever shreds of sanity I still possess.
If it’s getting you down, may I suggest installing some filters? Just because the Twits are screeching doesn’t mean you have to let them in. Have something good to eat and check in with a friend to make sure they’re okay.
That’s enough. Time to go back to bed.
© Remington Write 2022. All Rights Reserved.
I absolutely love this, and feel the same as you regarding seeing other people happily loving their lives and sharing on social media. If everyone went radio silent, now that would be depressing.