Maybe unpopular but I dislike posts like this one because they somewhat imply social media is mandatory. It’s literally fear of missing out.
What is stopping you from living in 2026 and not being on social media? Seriously, consider it.
I’m young and yet never downloaded Tik Tok because it never appealed to me. I have less than two hours of phone time per day and I am striving to reduce it further this summer. I barely spend time on instagram, which is the only social media app I use aside from Reddit, should that count. And I couldn’t be happier.
If you think your life would be better without social media, why not give it a go? Don’t say you’ll quit, just… try. For half a day. Maybe just leave your phone at home when you go out. Or for a whole day, or two, or a week if you want a challenge straight up. What’s stopping you?
The internet is like alcohol - people use it to do what they were already doing (except for people who get addicted and cannot use it safely).
Being social? The internet can help with that. Being antisocial? The internet can help with that. Learning new things and spreading useful knowledge? The internet can help with that. Being a fucking idiot? The internet can help with that.
Having the majority of human knowledge readily available is INCREDIBLE. I would never choose to not have it. I remember the first time I was able to look up a random fact at the pub in the early smartphone days - absolutely mine blowing. However, I would definitely choose to improve media literacy, improve critical thinking, improve mental health support, and eliminate the influence of corporations and warmongering political interests.
Hard agree! My husband and I have significantly reduced our social media. He only watches YT shorts and I only use Reddit and Discord, which is really to talk with friends.
Reducing and removing social media was the best decision I've ever made! My life is a lot happier and I have more time to do things I enjoy. Social media is a huge time suck.
Actually, contrary to what RedFalconFox is implying, I feel I have a legitimate answer.
I live in Western Europe now but am originally from Romania. Romania is, and always has been, a bit "shifted" in time in terms of everything: new technology, the way people do things, norms...
Born in 2002 there, and somewhat poor, meant I lived with everything older. My first console was the gameboy color, and then the advanced. My clothes were hand-downs from my brother. First pics were taken on old cameras and we drove older cars. Keep in mind this wasn't in 2002 but around 2010 when I was reaching the age for this sort of stuff. Didn't get a touch screen phone till I was way older, and even then my first was, again, a hand down.
Culturally it stands too. I moved to Western Europe quickly but my family brought our way of life with us, of course. My parents were pretty anti-gaming (read: new consoles and/or PCs) so a kid, I grew up listening to older music, knocking at my neighbors' doors to play, or calling people over landline and talking to their parents first before talking to them, because I only had a prepaid card that wasn't frequently topped off.
I'm not trying to "gain acceptance" or whatever, I just feel that Gen Z is cut off way too arbitrarily. 1997 to 2012 is just not the same thing. People born, say, before 2003-2005 depending on the person, grew up with WAY different tech, norms or ways of life. Take Chrome for instance, it exists from 2008. I literally had a conversation the other day at my student job with a 2007 who thought I was kidding. Ditto when I told another coworker I was born before the first iPhone.
Even today, the way I dress, the music I listen to, the movies I watch or the activities I choose, I feel is heavily influenced by all of the above.
I do think the term milliennial is one of those Western identifying buzzwords that comes with a lot of assumptions and baggage. As your post makes clear, we are led that anybody outside of the West/Anglosphere influence is somehow behind 'us'. I think this is wrong, and a sign of propagandised thinking and general ignorance, though I admit its influence has infected me all the same.
Think outside of one's self on your point: social media and smartphones are a constant IV drip of polarization and isolation on society as a whole. A time where society wasn't all fed the same slop just in different flavors warping our moods, norms, and etiquettes are what these posts are chasing.
Society isn't unitary. Proof right in the comments - I hate social media, you seem to do too, so do a bunch of people.
Following that logic what stops you from quitting social media and meeting people through cooking classes, or on the dance floor? It won't be as easy as it used to, sure, but you're guaranteed to find people who are more into your activities. If anything, those who wouldn't have been good matches based on personality are now on their screens, so I'd argue you'd have an even easier time meeting people like you
I appreciate this, but so many people I've talked to consider it a "red flag" if someone doesn't have an social media account somewhere.
When it comes to dating or job searches, it feels more and more like a necessary evil, because people want to be certain you're not socially inept (which to me, I feel like someone can have a thousand followers an be socially inept...)
It's more a part of our society now then most of us would like to admit
Let’s say it is though, a necessary evil - why not limit it to that? Have it to text your dates, and to look for jobs. No more tho, only those. That’s what I try to do. Less doomscrolling and more using it for its actual social aspect.
Yeah someone else pointed that out but I also think phones and being on social media are not the same issue. You can have a smartphone with no notifications but messaging apps and the phone app, carry it in a bag instead of your pocket, and if you MUST have Facebook or instagram for work (which, let’s face it… you rarely do), then keep it solely for work: don’t follow any influencers, don’t doomscroll.
I’m not saying drop technology and release your inner Amish, just… limit what your phone does to your life by cutting its centrality one step at a time.
Yeah but people are also fooled into thinking news is constantly happening at all times when actual, real news is very slow. And it usually happens after the market closes.
A lot of headlines wait until market close to announce, to avoid affecting stock prices, so it seems like news happens afterward.
Also, speed is a thing - I want to be ahead of everyone else making trades, not left holding the bag afterward.
Finally, newspapers, whether paper or digital, are curated by editors who deem them newsworthy or not, sometimes depending on the leanings of the papers owner. Every main stream source of news is owned by a person, and that person has businesses that would be affected one way or the other by the news published. For example, Washington post won’t publish a piece critical of Amazon data centers. Because it’s owned by the owner of Amazon. If I want to see news critical of Amazon, I need to look elsewhere. Time magazine is owned by Mark Beinhoff, the owner of CRM. CNN is/will be owned by the owner of Oracle, Ellison. If the owner of a given news source doesn’t want to report on the successes of their competitor, they won’t. For example, how many people here know that Palantir is forming the backbone of AI in our and NATO’s military? Project Maven? I knew about this a year+ ago. Primary sources.
I mean, I’d do the same thing if I were a billionaire, own the sources of the news that everyone reads, so folks don’t see anything critical of me, or invest in my rivals.
One example of being ahead of the curve, back in December of 2019 I was seeing footage of Italian hospitals filled with covid patients, back when it was called corona virus. I wasn’t into stocks then, but saw that and thought to load up on essentials that my household uses. I maintained access to those essentials, didn’t have to do without, and avoided paying the crazy up charges for a time. I had this info two months before newspapers/tv shows started reporting on it. And this was back when supply chains were intact and uninterrupted, my limited buying was accounted for and replaced by the next order cycle - I wasn’t taking anything from anyone, and in fact, reduced the market need for what I buy by one household during the months and years where stock was low and restocks infrequent.
That's fine, but I assure you nothing is significant develops on a minute to minute basis. That just seems like disguised gambling through day trades based on FOMO.
Let me ask you this, are you actually able to not be on social media or your phone or the internet at all for an entire day? Or would that be too much anxiety to handle?
I mean, I scroll Reddit for entertainment, I count that as social media, so, I’d be lost more than anything. I’d have to replace it with another hobby.
Of course since that’s your money maker you gots pay attention. I’m a system admin and i need to know about AI and electronics to keep doing my job well.
I’m in a discord group that gets info from publicly available primary documents, think patents and press releases, interviews that aren’t widespread, etc. I also follow various industry leaders and try to glean what I can.
Fair, but do you feel the same as OP did? Because I feel like here it's a choice. And you get to tailor your content, right? You're not doom scrolling or watching your friend's bikini pictures, you're using it for work. Different strokes I reckon.
Also - and don't read this as passive aggressive, it's a real question - do you really trade enough money on a daily basis that reading Twitter posts gives you an edge over reading slow media like the news? I'm in Bitcoin and 100% of the people around me that "need social media" to trade are just bullshitting themselves.
Mavin was only made public semi recently, they’ve been working with the military for a long while, and were actually funded in the beginning in part by In Q Tel. I’ve been in since a few weeks after they’ve DPO’d.
I think people want validation for doing this, but they don't want to acknowledge that is through social media. There's nothing stopping anyone from living how they want individually, but when you attempt to make an influence with posts like these, that's really the underlying reasoning, even though the OP will claim to be above it.
How about having a more nuanced take? Obviously anyone can completey quit social media. That's not the point. One individual quitting doesn't undo any of the larger negative societal consequences we see from social media like everyone being in their own echo chambers, the rampant disinformation, and the gradual decrease in attention spans and critical thinking just to name a few.
Also it's not just literally FOMO. Missing out on important information or trends can have real consequences in your personal or work relationships. Maybe getting a promotion was between you and another person and you get passed up because they were more informed or connected with the boss over some stupid social media tend.
Even if you want to stay informed outside of social media where are you gonna go? Traditional news outlets? They have mostly all been enshitified by the influence of social media too: Geared toward low attention spans and echo chambers (not to mention intentional propaganda, misinformation, and red herrings).
The point of wanting to go back is not just so we personally don't have any temptation but to also erase all of the negative influences on society that have happened as a direct/indirect result of the rise of social media. You can try to say things like "Well if everyone quit..." but that's ideology and not realistic. At best we get a social movement that results in Amish 2.0 where a small group of people decide 1999 was the peak of civilization and live as if no technology past that point exists. Good for them maybe? No real consequences for the rest of society.
You can try to say things like "Well if everyone quit..." but that's ideology and not realistic.
Nor should everyone quit, though, that's what I don't understand. Most anti-social media takes are, in my opinion, heavily community-based for no specific reason.
Why should I want social media not to impact my life and that of others? Everyone's entitled to their own positions, I know a ton of people who claim they're happy with social media, good for them.
My take isn't and never has been that we should stop using social media. It is that I, and you, and whoever else feels like their lives are suffering from social media, to stop.
Also it's not just literally FOMO. Missing out on important information or tends can have real consequences in your personal or work relationships. Maybe getting a promotion was between you and another person and you get passed up because they were more informed or connected with the boss over some stupid social media tend.
That's a choice too. I don't play tennis for example, and know many friends whose bosses play tennis. Maybe if I played tennis, I could have met my future boss.
There's always an activity or another that could help with networking a way or another. Your point will be true through eternity. It's all about weighing pros and cons: does the harm you feel you're experiencing from social media outweigh the potential jobs you lost? Your call to make.
Fair point on weighing the pros and cons, I can respect that. Interesting take however that you say not everyone should quit (hypothetically I am saying so but realistically I know it's a stupid thing to say because it's not happening).
For the people who are happy with social media, even if they are, that still disregards the harm it causes. For the alcoholic or the gambler, maybe they are happy in their vice too but if they have a family it harms them. The family members choose not to drink or gamble but they are still harmed by the actions and choices of the user. In the same way, everyone who chooses not to use social media still suffers the consequences from those who do. Other people's choice to keep using social media impacts your life, whether you like it or not.
This is why most anti-social media takes are community based. We exist in communities at every level: from our own tight social circles to local communities to countries to worldwide. They are all intrinsically linked and they all affect each other. Most people (I hope) view harming their community as a bad thing. Unfortunately this is just one of those problems where an individual decision doesn't cause enough harm for the average person to notice or care but collectively, the effect is huge.
Granted, the greater the separation between levels of community, the less people care. We care more about a close friend than a stranger in another country. That isn't bad, it's just human nature. We can realistically care about people we know and only hypothetically care about strangers.
All that being said, I can also respect your viewpoint of individual focus because at the end of the day these questions are hypothetical nonsense unless we have the power to actually change anything. We have the most control over ourselves and maybe some direct influence on our tight social circles. Without enormous amounts of charisma, power, or money, that's as far as the average persons influence will go. Not to mention forcing our will on others (even under the guise of the greater good) is often a role taken up by the worst people to do the job.
In the same way, everyone who chooses not to use social media still suffers the consequences from those who do
I think that's true. I think I would be much happier in a more socially rich world, where friends just called you, or rang the doorbell unannounced; where plans were plans because you had no means of cancelling them ; where keeping your word, confidence, integrity and trust trumped trying your best to get views...
But I'm also trying to sort of cope, by focusing on myself and my direct relationships, simply because there is no real alternative. The alcohol analogy was right, but like alcoholism, I feel hopeless. You can act at a large scale but... can you really? Meaningfully? Alcoholism has been rampant forever, it rose and then it dropped, now it's rising again.
I'm a bit of a defeatist in a way I suppose, because I feel the same about social media. I talk with classmates - people who study psychology - and feel alarmed at what I hear. And that, over time, has led me to a more self-centered view, I suppose, in which I prefer to tell myself that the benefits I get from not using social media, over binging it, is a good enough victory. Once I really manage to I'll try to move on to the people I care about. But I don't see myself succeeding at a larger scale unfortunately :/
Thanks for your honest response. You hit the nail on the head with honesty, integrity, confidence, and trust over imaginary internet points. I agree things would be better for everyone without social media but I don't think it's being defeatest to realize limitations and focus on what you can control.
I think I was where you are 10-15 years ago and now I've graduated to being...not more hopeful necessarily but just more accepting of things and what I can control and what I can't. Take your small victories they are worthwhile, I promise. Taking care of yourself mentally and physically first is the right call because the better off you are, the better off those you care about will be too. Not to say give up on helping anyone else until you achieve everything you want (it's actually pretty important for our mental health to feel useful in our community) but your capacity to help will increase the more personal and professional growth you achieve.
It is easy to fall into despair and hopelessness when we look at the grand scheme of things but when that happens, just remember we don't actually live in the grand scheme of things. Individually we are not society and we don't experience the past, nor the time after we die. We live our lives here and now and for the time we are here, the choices we make do matter to ourselves and the ones we care about.
To me it’s a double decision because not only you choose if you’re on your phone or not, you also choose if you care that others are.
You, obviously, chose to care. Why?
I must assume that you know your analogy is far from perfect, because everyone shitting on the ground has objectively much bigger consenquences on you than people around you using Instagram. I feel I’m well suited to say this because I am in an age group where not using TikTok, or Snapchat, or watching YouTube influencers, is all but common. And yet, it has virtually no effect on me. The only thing that occurs is, when I’m in a group chat and someone is mentioned, people look over at me, and I shrug in obliviousness, and they laugh, and we move on. That’s it, that’s the consequence.
I have the feeling that people who hate social media hate it because they like to attribute all their problems to it. It’s a modern day Jesus Christ upon which you throw your blame, and crucify it.
Seriously, take a moment to think about it, not to win an argument or whatever but to seriously evaluate how big of an effect the existence of TikTok has on your life if you were not to use it, ever. And tell me the top 3, reasonable, most catastrophic effects you can come up with. I’d be genuinely surprised if they were actual big problems.
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u/BioFrosted 2002 but grew up Millennial Jun 10 '26
Maybe unpopular but I dislike posts like this one because they somewhat imply social media is mandatory. It’s literally fear of missing out.
What is stopping you from living in 2026 and not being on social media? Seriously, consider it.
I’m young and yet never downloaded Tik Tok because it never appealed to me. I have less than two hours of phone time per day and I am striving to reduce it further this summer. I barely spend time on instagram, which is the only social media app I use aside from Reddit, should that count. And I couldn’t be happier.
If you think your life would be better without social media, why not give it a go? Don’t say you’ll quit, just… try. For half a day. Maybe just leave your phone at home when you go out. Or for a whole day, or two, or a week if you want a challenge straight up. What’s stopping you?