When to take a social media break

Burning out?

Scoring 'imaginary points'

"It’s the personal interactions, or the lack thereof, that make me feel done, feel more drained than I ever expected. It’s the inability to share my thoughts without seeing countless bad-faith critiques, even from people who fundamentally agree with what I’m saying. It’s the shallowness, the hollowness, the desire to score imaginary points placed above solidarity or building something or even constructive criticism. It’s the endless encounters with raw and misplaced anger with nowhere to channel it. It’s the fury and frustration shot out into the void, or directed at would-be friends."

I'm burnt out on social media: A reflection for supporting readers. Joshua P. Hill. New Means (Substack). February 18, 2024.

'Curating personhood' inside an algorithm

Wanting to take a social media break wasn't due only to the agitation, distraction, the urge to buy things for no reason, the inattention to what is taken and the unmindful plastic waste that resulted, the exposure to angry online trolls. It was also "perception gulfs" like:

"Once, having read of a friend’s mother’s death — movingly detailed in social media posts — I saw that same friend in real life and somehow did not process that she was still grieving.

Conversely, I ran into a friend who seemed happy online, but realized quickly after talking to her in person that she was actually in a very dark place."

There is a "labor of curating personhood in algorithmic space."

"I savored and cultivated something which nobody has figured out how to monetize: A sense of private delight. Indeed, I felt a new sense of private wonder."

"Here’s a phrase that came to me somewhere during my time off: You have a real life, not an advertisement for a life. "

"If I go back online, I only want to post and share what I would want to rain down on me, or a friend, or on the neighbor who one code calls me to love like a self."

Opinion: It’s the first weekend of spring. It’s totally okay to unplug: Tess Taylor, CNN, March 24, 2023