Why Social Media Sucks

Social media is here to stay whether we like it or not.

Whether we try to stay away from it it always seems to cross our mind.

Social media is both good and bad for our society. There’s many reasons why many people do not like it.

I’m a millennial so I’ve watched social media grow from nothing to what it is today.

I’ve got first hand experience unlike Gen Z who grew up with social media, or Gen X who are late to the party.

Now don’t even get started on boomers.

Why I Know More than the Average Person

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Millennial’s have been here since the start of the internet and watched it grow.

I was the one using a dial up connection just so I can go on chat rooms at 12 years old and talk to girls twice my age.

I was the one waiting for my mum to get off the landline so I could play Habbo ’til 5 in the morning.

There was no social media whatsoever, the only social media we had were chat rooms.

The very first social media site was Six Degrees, then MySpace, then Bebo.

These social media sites were nothing like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat.

I jumped on the social media wagon at Bebo.

But the start of the revolution was with Facebook.

Facebook was ONLY available for college students at the time Bebo and MySpace were popular.

However, it was first called Facesmash. Students could judge the attractiveness of their fellow students.

This would be the beginning of a new era.

How did the internet got from something so innocent to this whirlwind of a sh*t storm we have today?

Lets take a look.

So Why Does Social Media Suck?

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1. A lot of it is fake

Back in the day most of the things online was authentic because posting pictures online was a new concept.

Nowadays it’s not normal to fake something because all that matters is perspective.

Everyone’s trying to out do everyone. But what you see is not always as real as it seems.

The fact of the matter is, it’s not always rainbows and daisy’s.

As long as they can make it look like they’re living an amazing life then they’ve achieved their goal.

Heck, you can even pay a small fee to sit in a fake private jet set, take all the pictures you need for Instagram, and then leave.

The one in the picture is a basic set but you can also rent a grounded jet just for taking pictures. This is a real thing and so many influencers are doing it.

2. It’s not good for mental health

It’s no surprise that we’ve got the the highest depression rates we’ve ever had, more so in younger people.

We have a bad habit of comparing our behind the scenes with other peoples highlight reel.

Those that post on social media are putting their best foot forward.

We then look at our  own life and think “why can’t I do that”, “why don’t I have all that”, “why is my life so boring”?

This study shoes that:

• Social media causes mood and anxiety disorders
• Social media is commonly used for cyberbullying
• Social media is an addiction

3. It alienates you from others

Although social media connects us altogether, it also isolates us.

We get a sense of being connected but still feel lonely at the same time.

We are the most antisocial that we have ever been in the history of mankind, and I can’t even imagine what the future will hold.

4. It’s addictive

This is one of the worst things about social media.

It’s so damn addictive. Many studies have shown that excessive use of social media increases sadness, loneliness, self-harm, anxiety, and even suicide.

Being addicted to anything is never a good thing, but being addicted to social media is another ball park.

Humans feel a sense of self-worth and achievement when we are productive.

That’s why eating ice cream from 9 am to 9 pm and watching Netflix all day sounds like the greatest thing to do on paper, but when we actually do it, we feel sad because we’ve done absolutely nothing.

This is the same thing as excessive social media use.

We come home from work and have all these things we want to do for the weekend, yet we end up sitting on social media all weekend.

Rinse and repeat.

So What Should We Do?

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How do you get away from social media if it’s all around you?

There are 2 things you can do.

You can delete all social media apps from your phone so you don’t have the urge to watch what everyone else is doing every second of the day.

OR you can minimize your time on these apps.

Both are good.

Personally I limit my time on social media platforms, but this can be hard to do for the addicted.

Here’s my average daily usage time:

• Facebook – 36m 11s
• Instagram – 40m 20s
• Twitter – 5m 24s
• Snapchat – 45m 40s
• TikTok – 32m 41s
• YouTube – Unknown

YouTube is unknown because I use my laptop to watch videos.

But as you can see my usage time is still pretty high when you add them all together.

All the social media platforms above (not including YouTube) is over 2 hours.

Some of it’s productive (for my business), some of it’s entertainment. But the most important thing is to keep that screen time down.

I use  the StayFree app to hold myself accountable.

The reason I use YouTube the most is because I watch a lot of educational things to help grow my business and me as a person.

Conclusion

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Yes social media definitely does suck.

Being a blog all about influencers I thought I needed to touch on this subject.

Because you might be an average internet user, some of the things influencers face are 10x worse.

Social media is literally their job, they can’t just drop everything and abandon their fans.

In some cases this does happen and everyone wonders where they’ve gone to.

Sometimes influencers just need a break. It’s a very stressful job being in the spotlight 24/7.

Well I hope I opened your eyes to the dangers of social media and excessive use.

Please leave all your thoughts and comments in the box below. We all need to talk about this.