I’m going to piggyback this post on the one I wrote a while back about social media not just affecting girls or young people negatively but everybody.
I gave up on Twitter in January or February of 2020. I rarely used it an was mostly disgusted by what I saw of it. Facebook on the other hand was a different story. I’d made noise about dumping Facebook at that time too but always found a reason to return. Facebook is a good way of connecting with people. It’s also a great way to burn bridges and ruin friendships when the inevitable political disagreements arise. Sitting at a computer, typing responses to posts made by other people with whom you disagree is like having the coprolalia portion Tourette syndrome. The other choice is to swallow the bitterness and bile to keep from alienating people who are at least nominal friends. The result from either response is not good.
It was mid-March of this year when the combination of negative responses and swallowed responses got to be too much and I had a small mental and emotional break. It was also at that time when I finally (mostly) gave up on Facebook. I didn’t completely delete my account (it would take too much work to restore it should I find reason to return) but I suspended it. I can honestly say that my mental and emotional health has improved significantly as a result. Oh, I still have accounts with several social media outlets but I never use any save YouTube and that’s assuming YouTube is considered social media. I even have Instagram but I’ve used that maybe half a dozen times ever. I can say that ditching social media was one of the best things I’ve ever done.