There was a recent outburst from Sean Parker, who is an early Facebook Investor on how the Social Media site has become addictive. He said that Facebook was something that was meant for Human consumption, but It has ended up consuming people
Chamath Palihapitiya who is a Venture Capitalist who has significant Holdings in ventures like the NBA Golden State Warriors explained how Facebook is creating a culture of Brittle Popularity. We are creating a sense of popularity with the hearts and likes we receive from people, and when they don't respond as we like, it ends up affecting how we value ourselves and the content we put out
This is not limited to Facebook alone, it is spread across other social Media sites like Twitter and WhatsApp. The level of programming behind Facebook is alarming as people are now addicted to "sharing" and their entire lives are ruled by Notifications
This is scary and you may waiting for me to state a solution to this, but the truth is that I don't know of any apart from leaving those platforms entirely. I personally have uninstalled Facebook and Instagram. The only reason why I am still on Twitter and WhatsApp is because of the $Crypto communities I am a part of there
Those who follow my content will remember that I made a post in November Last year of how I am going back to build a following there, but on getting back I discovered that there is a huge disparity between the Facebook I left and the one I met Six Months later
I was gone for only six months but it looked like I was in the dinosaur age, things looked more fake and programmed than ever, I had to focus on only Steemit, Discord and Twitter for now
The Deafening Silence
While it is sounds reasonable to ditch these Apps that so entangles us. That decision is not one everyone can take comfortably. People who are addicted to Social Media got that far because they use it to drown out the noise in their lives
Social Media have become a kind of escape from the harsh realities of Life. People who have nothing to look forward to or even introverts who cannot make offline connections. hide behind their smart phones and chat all day. The fear of being forgotten and the need to be seen are all factors that contribute to this.
Social Media have become more of a subscription drug people use to solve a whole lot of problems. And they take different amount of doses based on the prevailing condition
Another solid truth is that even if you are absent from the social media world you will not be missed and your absence can easily go unnoticed. I am sure of this because when I came back from my six month Facebook strike there were no messages from any of my over 2000 "friends" on why I was not coming online
When you stop making effort to be seen on social media you vanish entirely and this is a testament to the fact that the nature of the platform does not encourage strong relationships. We all have people who we accepted their friend requests but never chatted with. The average Facebook user chats with less than 10% of the people on their friend list and this number is lower in most cases
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The Strength In Solitude
Solitude might sound scary to some people , but it is a requirement to birth change. You cannot solve your problems or make progress by killing time, you have to make each day count
Solitude might seem scary, but it is what will give you the time to seek the real solution to your problems. It gives you time to seek out the real friends and connections that will help you progress. Building offline connections is Important will help give you the morale and strength to build your life daily
The genuine connections you will make will act as a form of mirror to show you where you are lacking instead of the fake self affirmations you give yourself on social media
This is one of the reasons why I love Steemit, even though it is an online platform the nature of the platform makes it hard to build fake connections with people. If you cannot provide value there will be no one to hold you in high esteem
And if you have nothing good to offer the community you won't survive here. Steemit is not a place for escape. It is a place of growth and development
Thanks For Reading
Image Source : Pexels
This comment really stuck me. It's a scary thought about this new world we live in.
Live has no substance when we fail to build valuable connections . Thanks for reading @eroche
The truth is not far fetch from you wrote on......people are now addicted to the social media
The solution is total shutdown or a migration to a place like Steemit that forces us to grow @juleeblaz
Sure
Steemit killing other social media since 2016 :)
Very soon they won't be able to sweep it under the carpet anymore
social media is always full of fake people and fake representations they aint real at all but people always stick to it because thats is where they wont be judged based on there real self.
The thing is that everyone knows the truth and it will not do you good to maintain fake facades, it will only stunt your growth
Social media is the new trend we got to follow...everything has it own time.
The main thing is following it in a way that makes you productive
I have Facebook but like you I stick to Twitter and Steemit. I wish I could invite face book friends to steemit. People are wasting resources and knowledge on Facebook.
I believe that with time they will migrate to Steemit
The part you said people get emotional about hearts and life and make it feel like a source of value... Is the scary part...everyone wants to be a celebrity.
We need to pray people realise early that all those are irrelevant... Nice post
Thanks for reading
I think the introduction of Steemit into our lives has helped us see the beauty in being a truly participatory platform where there are no fakes or desperate cultures. The realness of a thing will surely impact those who engage with it.
Thats very true @ejemai.
What makes Steemit stand out is it's ability to foster the creation of valuable connections
As somebody who shunned social media for a long time and has come to it late I can see the benefits but I'm amazed at how addictive checking for notifications is and I can see how it can consume you. I agree that it is essential to balance this with real human interactions. Steemit as a platform is so much more rewarding because of the genuine nature of the interactions but there has to be a balance between the online and offline worlds.
Very true, even if Steemit is a good place , there is still value in creating offline connections
There's true strength in solitude; have found the answers to most of my problems when I spent time alone with my own thoughts. The answers to life's deepest questions comes in the place of silence; most call it meditation.
Social media has become a world of its own. Where we either learn positively or negatively. Though i personally have been able to learn from it and has made friends who are of a great impact to me. Example of those people are @ogochukwu @samstickz. Have learnt alot through your writeups.