Let me start this by saying I’m not a conspiracy theorist or someone that believes that social media corrupts everyone. I think that for one of the first times in history people finally have a place to express themselves which can be a very freeing feeling.
For me one of the best parts of social media has been being able to stay connected with family that lives far away, friends that go to different schools or friends that are abroad. But, one of the hardest parts of social media has been everything I have seen recently. I want to believe that there is good in the world and that each person has something great in them. Right now it is hard to believe that with each post, picture or tweet hating one group or another.
With the holidays coming up it is important to make this time about family. Knowing that time with each person is valuable I choose to spend it truly in the moment and not distracted by what someone is saying on Facebook, being angry about on Twitter or who is hanging out with who on Instragram. The various forms of social media leave us distracted from those who mean the most to us and focused on things that do not matter in our day to day life. With Thanksgiving in two weeks and Christmas next month, I want to focus on the people I love, being as least distracted as possible.
With regards to the results of the election, that is another reason for staying off of social media. There is so much hatred from each side. The protests, voicing of opinions and bringing up past feelings would have occurred regardless of who won the election. I think what was startling to me was how many of the people I considered close friends and family that had opinions along the lines of hatred, narcissism and oppression. I don’t want my opinion of these people to be changed because I want to believe that they are still the same people I choose to spend my time and effort on. It is difficult to see the people that I love have opinions that are so different than mine. I don’t want my views on them to change just because we believe different things.
There is so much to look forward to in life and so much to be positive about that spending any minute of our lives engulfed in anger, hate or aggression becomes a waste. I choose to live my life being happy, positive and with as little negativity as possible. Right now, social media is not helping me with that and this is why I choose to leave it behind for now.