The world could’ve been better if social media didn’t exist
To say that I wish social media didn’t exist is, truthfully speaking, hypocritical – because the fact is, I spend hours scrolling through pictures and videos posted by people ranging from public figures, friends, to literal strangers daily.
Social media can be a good thing. News travels faster, building friendships are (in a way) a lot simpler, we can share cute little hobbies, and the best thing about it is that we can connect any time we want to. But, social media isn’t only about that; it’s also about being self-conscious, glorifying behaviours no less than strange, being encouraged to endorse harmful and unhealthy habits, and worshipping people we know almost nothing about.
Of course, those aren’t the direct outcomes of social media but rather the consequences of how society has decided to utilise social media. If society wanted to keep social media as flexible communication and personal expression platforms, they could’ve done so; except they didn’t and social media became, sort of like, a competition in which people are expected to constantly be at their very best.
A very sad thing is that ‘social’ has now come down to how many followers you have, whether or not you’re keeping up with the latest trend, or if people even liked your posts.
When someone mentions ‘social’, I think of going out with friends or family, joking around, having a barbecue in the garden, or participating in a neighbourhood gathering – not being obsessed with the like count of your latest post or seeking validation from people you’ve practically never met.
The worst part of social media? We keep coming back to it. To analogise, social media is much like a drug; we think doing it will make us feel better, when in reality it doesn’t. It instead makes us feel worse.
In this reality, deleting social media might not be the easiest choice. Our whole lives basically revolve around it – everything from entertainment, communication, even schoolwork. Now that we have it, we literally cannot live without it. Now, what could have possibly happened if social media was never invented in the first place?
If social media was never invented in the first place, life would, in a way, vary. It would mean you have to interact in person. It would mean less time being spent scrolling through pictures and videos of people you don’t know. It would mean more time being spent in real life. It would mean no more uploading pictures and videos of how your day is going. There wouldn’t be ‘likes’ or ‘comments’, and in that sense you wouldn’t need to feel competitive for ‘likes’.
Real life would enhance communication. That means no more portraying someone as ‘evil’, posting awful rumours, or pretending to not be at fault. You would actually be meeting people and getting to know their personalities, rather than what they are portraying through the screen.
No social media would mean you’d actually be able to live life. You’d be able to live the moment and enjoy it without having to worry over whether or not it would get you ‘likes’.
So, would social media never being invented make the world less globally connected? Or would it instead give people the freedom of being themselves rather than keeping up multiple fake personas? Frankly, we’d never know; but I’d like to believe that it’s the latter.
