Ahhhhhhh. The Facebook.
I first become acquainted with this soul sucking vampire of a machine when I got back from backpacking in Europe in 2006. I remember thinking this was the absolute coolest thing to exist since Napster. I quickly became enthralled and would spend countless hours looking at people’s profiles (let’s get serious: creeping), looking for people I used to know in high school to “connect” with, and posting my own albums of the experiences and events of my life. In the beginning, it was glorious. It quickly became an obsession. I would sit on my brown chaise with my laptop and my dog, Magnum, at my feet and scroll. Loving people’s statuses, checking for comments and likes, and joining groups brought me joy. It was the only social media I really became hooked on. However, after a few years, I found myself starting to get annoyed with people. It seemed more like “bragbook” or a place where people would post cryptic statuses for attention. People started to get hostile. Political. Honestly, the vibe started to shift. I noticed my vibe started to shift. Then, one incident occurred that was the nail in the coffin. I was part of a mom’s group…you know, the kind of group that is supposed to be a community who supports each other and answers all the questions of the unknowns of motherhood and parenting. You know. A village. The first red flag should have been that I had to be “accepted” – basically, I had to be recommended by another member and then the “leader” would let me in after several days of waiting. Once in, I quickly realized it was not as supportive as anticipated and there was way more attacking and mom-shaming than I ever wanted to be a part of. Basically, I stood up for a mom and tried to clarify something, and was called a troll and attacked. I’m a sensitive soul, and even though I have no idea who these people are in real life, I did not like how it made me feel. I spent far too much of my mental load worrying about those keyboard warriors than I needed or wanted. So. That was it. I was done. It was sucking the joy out of my life. I deleted my profile about 5 years ago now and haven’t gone back. Peace out, Facebook.
Snapchat? No, thank you.
Tik Tok? No, thank you.
Twitter? No, thank you.
Instagram? Yes, please.
I love it. In my old-ish years, I recognize that I don’t need to follow anybody or comment on anything. What I love about Instagram is that I can just mindlessly scroll when I need to turn my brain off. It’s easy. I laugh a lot at memes or reels. I love sending them to my friends along with posts that just make sense between us. I love the ideas I curate looking at teaching profiles. I love learning about how to incorporate BIPOC texts in my classroom and how to weave social justice topics seamlessly into my teaching and everyday life. I love being able to learn about being a mother or how to parent and raise resilient children and gentle boys. I love learning about mindfulness, self-regulation, the vagus nerve, and resilience from gurus like Gabor Mate. I love having belly laughs with my friends over the simplest…and stupid…memes. I love feeling nostalgic when I watch all the throwbacks to the 90s. I love bookmarking recipes and watching people cook all the food. I don’t have to belong to any groups. I don’t follow or watch anything that makes me sad or upset. I just keep on scrolling if it doesn’t appeal to me. I barely make posts. I have never in my life made a reel and have no intentions to. Instagram is quick. It’s simple. It doesn’t suck my soul dry of joy – it does just the opposite.
To be clear: I don’t use social media to be social. I use it to learn and laugh. If I stop doing that, then peace out.
Hi Laura! Your unique tone and voice instantly spoke to me when reading your blog. Congrats on using such a captivating writing style that makes your blog approachable and relatable 🙂
I agree that Facebook can feel braggy or political. Although I feel that the mainstream has generally moved on past Facebook, I still like it as a platform to connect with friends (even if that makes me behind the times, haha). One strategy I’ve used is quickly unfriending/ unfollowing people or pages that don’t sit right with me.
Algorithms play a huge part in dictating what we see on social media, and I am pretty happy with the content the algorithm feeds me on the various social media platforms I use – I like to think that I have carefully curated myself a little slice of positivity, humor, and inspiration through the things I engage with.
I think social media may be entering a new age of being more ‘real.’ On a trip I was on recently (with people from all over the world in the tour group), I learned about “BeReal” (I thought they were saying B Reel at first). It is a newer platform that is more popular in the UK – I don’t think it has caught on in Canada, yet. BeReal is a lot more authentic – you post a photo of whatever you are doing at the time the notification goes off during the day. Maybe we will see social media continue to shift to be a positive presence!
Thanks for all your thoughts, Kara. I always preach to my ELA students about have a solid voice when writing, so your words are really great to hear. I love doing a good “purge” of people and accounts on Instagram. It’s, oddly, a great feeling. And yes, the algorithms play a large part in what shows up. So, like you, I like to think I have curated exactly what I need 🙂 Maybe, I’ll have to try out this BeReal platform. Or not. Haha. I’m pretty happy with my one social at the moment.
Hi Laura!
I really enjoyed hearing your list of reasons why you love instagram! I felt myself nodding in agreement as I read through it. For me, I definitely tried to create a space on instagram that was meaningful and allowed me to see and hear voices and ideas that were in agreement with my thoughts and belief systems. In addition to this, things that I enjoy. Like Kara mentioned, the algorithms play such a huge role in what we see on social media, therefore what you are looking at will impact what you see on your feeds in the future. Currently, I am seeing nothing but Taylor Swift Eras tour videos and it brings me so much joy (and some envy, as I didn’t get tickets)! It was so refreshing to hear how you are finding joy through social media and was a great reminder for myself! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for your comments, Amy. I’m not a “Swiftie”, but I have become more aware of those who are as it shows up in my FYP as well and lots of my feed – probably because of the algorithms like you mentioned. It’s kind of wild to think that our socials are being catered to us. When you really sit with that, do you find it a bit unnerving?