Quitting Social Media - Week Four

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Four weeks ago I watched a video by Dr. Cal Newport. His pitch was centered on questioning the value of social media. Along with other points about why, one struck me the most: most, if not all, of the social media companies use Engagement Engineers. Their goal is to keep your attention in the app, for as long as possible. In other words, the value you are receiving is for entertainment only! Argue what you may, but I think he's right! When I followed his thinking through, 9 times out of 10, I didn't learn something new. I was entertained (I'm mainly referring to Facebook and Instagram). Granted, I have learned/laughed at times, but on the whole, I haven't. So I've quit those two social networks for the past four weeks, and I've learned even more...



For starters:

  1. One phenomenon I've noticed about social media, is the desire for couples to post all the wonderful things they are doing... I've never been a big fan of this... I always wonder: who are they really talking to? Are they trying to make someone jealous? Is it an ego thing? I mean, if you are happy, why post... I've never understood this. But, I've seen their posts, and I have judged my current relationships by what I am seeing - not good! With my new girlfriend, I've stayed clear of, well, this silliness, and I'm only judging the relationship by how it makes me feel. This has made an incredible difference! 
  2. Time suck! Social media, although I don't spend a ton of time on Facebook or Instagram, I've noticed that I can waste a few minutes a day running through the site. Well, that time is now used for other things like, READING! 
  3. Frankly, I'd rather not just re-post a bunch of junk, or like a bunch of stupid shit, I'd rather create valuable content (I'll give Instagram a bit of a pass on this one, as some of the pics are really cool). This means, creating more blog posts or videos of value... I'd rather give back to the network, and honor and LIKE content that actually serves the system. 
  4. Oh, and my anxiety level has gone down... More on that later. 
So, that's it so for now... I hope everyone who reads this understands I'm not judging them (it may sound like it), I'm judging how I've been perceiving social networking post (this is my judgment and value... Not the value of your content, because some of what people share is incredible).

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