I don’t know about you, but it feels like social media has taken over our world.
If social media is your jam, that’s great. I’m all for people doing what makes them happy even if it’s not something that sparks joy for me personally. There are a lot of people who find joy through sharing parts of their day with the social media world and/or friends and family through those apps. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t parts of Instagram and Twitter (sorry, I’m too old for TikTok!) that I enjoy, specifically cute animal videos and clever, snarky comments on Twitter.
Despite LOLing at videos of huskies arguing with each other, I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a social media person.
It makes sense because I’ve never been too big on what other people are doing.
Sure, I have my people (both the actual people in my life and those I love from afar), but I’m not generally interested people just because they’re popular. I haven’t been influenced by the nap dress on Instagram. I had no interest in the royal wedding. I have no idea who’s saying what crazy thing on Twitter unless it’s related to something I genuinely enjoy.
I also don’t think I’m that interesting.
Don’t worry, I’m not (currently) suffering from low self esteem. I think I’m great and have cool things to say, but I don’t blame random strangers if they’re not nearly as interested as my friends are. Maybe it stems from the fact that I don’t generally care what someone’s eating for lunch, I assume that other people also do not want to see my sandwich even if it is DELICIOUS. That has always seemed like a text to a friend versus an Instagram post, but that’s just me.
In addition, I’m generally a private person.
Sometimes to a fault! Asking for help is hard, guys. But since I often struggle to let in the people closest to me, it would definitely be a leap for me to share it with the masses. It feels really unnatural for me to share something meaningful and/or personal that I’m going through with an audience that I don’t control.
As such, I tend to share only surface level things when I feel like it.
You’ll see a pretty sunset on my recent trip. Or a lot of pictures of Central Park. Some photos of me, probably in running clothes. Definitely a shot of Yankee Stadium, but nothing too revealing or scandalous. It just is what it is! That’s my relationship with social media, and I’ve accepted that it’s where I feel most comfortable with this world we can’t seem to escape.
I don’t just say all this to vent about oversharing on social media.
Well, maybe a little. (just kidding! you do you!)
It’s not my cup of tea and I wanted to be open about that in case it’s not yours either. I think there’s a lot of pressure out there for “the phone to eat first” and for you to document every moment of your life otherwise you’re doing something “wrong”. I would imagine a good number of people would not feel comfortable asking a friend to not share their photo, or a particular photo, on their Instagram page.
It’s okay if you don’t want to participate.
It’s also okay if you only want to participate a little bit. Just like anything else, everyone’s relationship with this part of society is going to look a little bit different and we shouldn’t assume that someone wants their life documented on social media. You can say no, or you can spend less time on the apps. You can curate your feed to ONLY include puppies. If it makes you happy, limit your Twitter consumption to once a day. Or zero times a day. You can own whatever works. Bottom line: it’s okay if you just aren’t a “social media person”.
It’s also okay if you are!*
*as long as you let other people not be.
