I've lived for the 17 years of my life without social media whatsoever (I don't count Reddit because it's not really communicating with IRL people).
I have a post-less Instagram account on my iPad that I occasional sign onto to get ahold of friends (though hardly receive any messages from it because I never look).
I don't own a cell phone. (Yes, last year of high school and don't own a phone. Also in a somewhat affluent area... so yeah. Though I guess it also isn't a surprise when I tell you I'm a bit of a loser, or at the very least think I am).
Life goes on. People always ask me: "How do you live without!?!?!?! arghhhh!!!!" The reality is, I have never known any better. I live just fine, as people did 20 years ago. It's also given me a perspective on how ridiculous the whole social media scene is: especially in teenagers (and older than that you should be mature enough to stay off of it generally anyways).
- People post half-nude shots seeking attention
- People post scenes of underage intoxication/themselves in drunken messes (who cares about jobs, university, and scholarships?)
- People post any social situation they encounter (tagging as many people as possible, because look at me - I have so many friends! Why bother enjoying the event for what it is, rather than making sure that my Instagram entourage knows?)
- People post opinions that are bound to be unpopular with somebody (God forbid if I were to post some of my very rationally justified, but not so politically correct opinions. Frankly, you could post the most innocuous political stance and it could probably piss off 30% of people - though that is if it were shown to the general population, as social media tends to cherry pick and keep people with akin views together)
- People's posts are permanent. Somebody can stare at your post and keep coming back. If you fuck up, it's there "forever". Yet in some cases, the only comments on a major fuck-up are "ohhh babe you're so sexy". It just isn't the same as an evanescent wrong-saying/doing IRL. It never will be.
I could go on and on and on. I wish people would realize where we are going with this and consider the very real risks, even if it means being a little bit of a pariah. I'm not one to protest change, as society inevitably evolves and much of what was scorned upon in the past is now a cornerstone of our everyday life. We need to learn traditional social skills - outside of 6ix9ine references and what we saw on Snapchat.
Why is this "modernization" of socialization bad? We have undertaken on a very drastic change to a key aspect of our lives in such a short period of time. Humans have lived for thousands of years with socialization either gradually evolving or ossified. To rewrite this paradigm so quickly... we have no idea what comes next.
Just slow the fuck down everyone. That's all I'm saying.