The urge to be anti-social

As the days pass, the urge to delete all social media (except my well-trained photography Instagram) grows stronger. Yes there are some benefits to being in this hyper-connected world, but the sad reality is that in the general case it’s a cesspool of vile toxicity that brings out the absolute worst in people and robs us of vast amounts of time. 

I read this today – I am a 15-year-old girl. Let me show you the vile misogyny that confronts me on social media every day. It’s absolutely horrifying, and this is probably just the surface. There will be depths that are far, far worse. Unimaginable stuff. 

Countries are now banning social media for under 16s which seems eminently sensible to me (a parent). We should look at this growing movement as a strong “health indicator” for us adults too. We know it’s bad for the kids, but it’s also bad for us, so shouldn’t we consider paring back our usage and looking at other ways to stay informed? Phone calls, group chats, reading books, emails, blogs, trusted traditional media, meet-ups for hobbies and community events, drinks down the pub or the local cafe. It doesn’t seem that hard really. And we probably wouldn’t miss it much, if at all. 

I’m not sure going full cold turkey is the way. Perhaps trying to pair back usage and using it only pro-actively, rather than passively scrolling. And scrolling. And scrolling. But maybe it’s too easy to get sucked back in and fall off the wagon for this to work. Maybe actually deleting the accounts is our only real chance of escape.