*****UPDATE 1.4.24: IM BACK ON SOCIAL MEDIA HAHAHAHAHA*******
So I did the thing. I’m one of those people who announced my break from social media. Except mine is more of a permanent break. A boycott if you will.
Social media just isn’t the same anymore. I grew up during the time social media was thriving (back when MySpace was THE place to be). My coding skills were spot on… if you count copying HTML from one website over to another as coding. Now that I’ve become an entrepreneur + coded three websites, I can definitely say I was NOT coding back then. But boy did I think I was smart!
As someone who’s more introverted than extroverted, online was where a lot of my social interactions happened. I was a SHY child. Very awkward + not contributing much to the conversation, but you could always count on me to laugh at your jokes + hear the little remarks no one else heard. Not much has changed, except I am way more outgoing than before, thank GOD (it really was a struggle). But, it was hard for me to make friends; small talk wasn’t my thing + every time someone asked me about myself (this still happens), my mind would go blank + I’d have no idea what to say. I also felt that a lot of people my age were different from me. I didn’t like the things they liked. I didn’t do the things they did. I felt like the odd one out. Like, I didn’t go to high school parties with alcohol + grinding + sex in someone’s parents bed. I read Wattpad, in my Spongebob shirt, in my bed. (Now I read Substack, in my Spongebob socks, on my couch.) On the rare occasion, I went to high school parties with video games + snacks + kids holding hands. I didn’t drink alcohol until college. I felt like your stereotypical outcast.
Online was easier. Online gave me time to think before responding. Online gave me the space to connect with people like myself. Online, I could be myself. So, I was everywhere. MySpace. Omegle. Second Life. Facebook. Kik. Whisper. I loved to meet + talk to people online. It was my way of making friends that weren’t just school friends (which I had very few of). It was my way of connecting + having a social life, even if it was online.
I have met A LOT of people online. Some I have grown deep friendships with. Some I have slept with. Some I have bonded with that ended up ghosting me. Some I have grown apart with. To me, social media was the answer to my shyness. I was free to be me! I was free to express myself + be exactly who I was: weird, sarcastic, helpful. I was safe. Not safe from random dick pics + men on Omegle wanting to sext, but overall, I was safe.
Not anymore.
Here’s the thing about social media now. It sucks. Plain + simple. It’s not fun anymore. It’s draining, exhausting, judgmental. It’s filled with ads, algorithms, + parrots. It’s filled with censorship, divisiveness, + tracking devices. I want to have a conversation about natural healing + the vast amount of ways nature heals, yet the algorithm silences me. I want to have a conversation about the COVID vaccine + how more evidence is coming out that it’s not as safe as they said it was, yet the parrots call me anti-vax. I want to learn more about Hunter Biden + his odd background with Ukraine, yet the truth is censored. I want to watch funny videos from strangers + learn random things on TikTok (like how locks of hair are great for keeping rodents away from your garden), yet China tracks my every move, including my face.
It’s also extremely detrimental to our mental health with addictive dopamine hits, comparison bugs running rampant, + shorter + shorter videos that are ruining our attention span.
I am no longer free to be myself. I am no longer safe. One wrong move + I’m labeled as an anti-vax, transphobic racist who should die. Or, I’m labeled as a terrorist + the CIA is shooting me in the back of the head but making it look like I’ve killed myself (this is obviously an exaggeration, but definitely not short from the truth considering their history). I am no longer free to vibe with like-minded people without jumping through ten thousands hoops to find them. I literally can’t even decipher between a bot + a real human! Every day I question whether it was a bot that commented or Stacy that decided to put 8 numbers after her name for some reason. What happened to being able to have a conversation? What happened to being open-minded + appreciating opposing viewpoints? What happened to being kind?
WHERE ARE ALL THE REAL PEOPLE?
As a business owner, it’s even worse. I’m constantly fighting algorithms to get my posts viewed. I’m constantly changing my strategy because the algorithm keeps changing. I can’t make a post without a bot coming in talking about herpes. Seriously. I DON’T WANT SAL05986 COMMENTING ON MY POST ABOUT HOW DR. S3XY CURED THEIR HERPES + NOW THEY WANT TO SPREAD THE WORD.
Shut up. I’m trying to tell people about the benefits of Passionflower for anxiety! My god, no one wants to hear about your non-existent herpes, you stupid bot.
Ugh. Social media is just not the same. Free speech is out the window. Censorship is HIGH. I’m sorry (not really), but I am against cancelling + banning people from a site just because they said something a handful of people didn’t like. It was definitely not a win for the people + our 1st amendment right of FREE SPEECH to have Trump banned on social media. I don’t care how annoying his tweets were. The block button exists for a reason. You can’t even mention things like spirituality, plant medicine, aliens, or anything related to awakening the mind + challenging the status quo without being shadow-banned at least once.
Clearly, you can see the kind of point of view I have. I may be extremely biased, but hey, it’s my Substack.
It sucks because I love TikTok.
I love watching the videos on there. I’ve learned so much, laughed a lot, sometimes even cried. I’ve met dope people on there. I’ve found wonderful small businesses. I’ve absolutely loved posting videos on TikTok, too. It’s been so fun expressing my weird ass self on there. It’s been an absolute beauty meeting wonderful people like you. (If you’re not here from TikTok, welcome to the story about why im boycotting it.) But the cons outweigh the pros, so it’s time to go.
Maybe other social media apps/sites will launch that won’t be filled with bandwagon parrots + restrictive algorithms. I’m hopeful, because outside of all of that, social media is a great place. It gives us the ability to connect EVERYBODY to each other instantly, which is absolutely amazing + not appreciated enough. I have a feeling the bandwagon parrots won’t go away, but they’ll definitely get less + less.
But, until then, I will be here on Substack, my blog, + Pinterest. I’ve got a lot to talk about, so Substack will be where I dump all of that. So, if you want to hear real stories about the ups + downs of being a human being, like how I dated someone for three years who had not one, not two, but three side-chicks, subscribe to paid posts, + you’ll receive that in your inbox within two weeks. It’s a fun story.
Not everything will be behind a paywall. You can subscribe to receive free posts as well, directly to your inbox. Substack’s great. Honestly. They’re all about free speech, even made a post about it which you can read here, so I’ll be chillin here for a long while.
So here’s me boycotting social media. Here goes nothing.
…
as always,
much love + healing,
eb
(If you’d like to help support while I come up with creative ways to market everything I do during my social media boycott, consider 1. subscribing to paid posts, 2. buying me a cup of joe to fuel my 2am writing sprees, 3. sharing The Daily-ish Eb with someone who has good vibes.)