The Anti-Social Media

When friends become little more than a thumbs up.

Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

We live in an increasingly digital world, where even our friendships are becoming digitised. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat… these platforms all belong to a digital subgroup, known as “social media”.

Now, I’m not knocking social media. I met my best friend on Facebook, and, given my anxiety and depression, if I’m honest, without social media, I probably wouldn’t speak to anyone for days at a time.

A REPLACEMENT FOR REAL LIFE

The thing is, lately, looking at my social media feeds, and all of the hashtags and trending topics, it struck me. In this ever growing digital world, sites like Facebook are replacing real life interactions.

The truth is, there are people on my friends list that I see on a weekly basis, and though they may ‘like’ my posts, they don’t actually talk to me when they see me in person.

THEY KNOW WHAT I CHOOSE

Basically, they only know what I show to the world (or my chosen friends list) on my feeds. It is so easy to click ‘like’ on a post, and to believe that this is the same thing as actually interacting with people. I know because I’ve done it myself.