As a child of the 90’s I grew up during the inception of social media. I watched it grow and blossom into what it is today and from the start I have to say I didn’t really like it. I think that social media creates a plethora of issues and has created an unusual culture. Social media did create a lot of good with sites that I really enjoy such as Reddit and Quora which but what really grinds my gear is Facebook and Instagram.

Sites like Facebook and Instagram really urk me. It’s not so much the fake news profiteering that bugs me (which is a seperate and even more fucked up problem) but more of the culture itself. They have a very toxic and weird culture that keeps users hooked. You post certain posts to give yourself a certain image in hopes to get more friends or followers to have a good social image. I remember back in the day, all of the guys at school would brag about how many friends they have, how many of them are girls, and stuff like that. It turned having friends into a competition.

Socializing became a game and it turned friendships into a currency. Todd is cooler than Jeremiah because he has 423 friends while Todd has 571 friends and half of which are girls. Instead of going to a friends house, kids started spending their nights in their rooms on Facebook and Instagram.

At first I thought it was a fad. People were be super in to it but ultimately these social media sites would die out. There was no way people would enjoy looking at random thoughts and pictures from other people but it’s been over a decade and it’s still popular! It’s so popular that despite knowing that Facebook and Instagram profit off of it’s users information as well as profit off of the spread of fake news and people still use that shit! We still go on to to their stupid ass site so we could congratulate some idiot we haven’t spoken to since high school on their stupid ass birthday.

Furthermore, this expanded the social frontier. It used to be that people spend their day at work or school. You’ll hang out with coworkers or school mates and make the socially required small talk. Maybe you’ll go out after and hang out with friends for a bit after. Whatever your situation was, your socializing would finish when you got home. Once you were home, you didn’t have to fake any smiles or make any small talk. You got to just relax. That all ended when social media took control. Now people are always in a social setting. Their are photos to like, peoples thoughts to read, and it’s just awful.

A lot of you may be saying “you’re not forced to use social media. If you don’t like it just don’t use it.” Wrong. There was a time where I decided to stop using Facebook and Instagram and for a time I was at peace. Than I bumped into a friend and he was angry at me for ignoring the invite to a party he had. My cousin was angry I didn’t like the photo of his daughter. Another friend was angry that I wasn’t following her Instagram. Shit like this kept happening until I was forced to check both accounts on a weekly basis just to avoid this problem.

The worst part is that there is no real conclusion to be drawn from this. No solution to stop this weird culture that as become instilled in our daily lives. Social media is here to stay and I guess we just have to learn how to deal with it.

Also, don’t forget to like this post and follow the blog. Share it too so I could get more followers and more likes to further feed the endless hunger of my ego. For real, I need the validation and feeling of success that I was denied as a child.

