The Nature of Social Media and the Internet
Cancel Culture
Inauthentic Representation of Self
Judgement
Within cancel culture, everyone is subject to cancelation and immediate exile if one person has anything bad to say about them online.
Many people have social media accounts and feel trapped by them. They could also feel like they are being judged for what they post and need to be perfect online.
Fear
Taking a break from it all is also very beneficial for people who are scared to be canceled or have been canceled by a community on the internet.
It is traumatizing to have thousands of people all attack you online and use things that you have posted to portray you as a monster. I have been the victim of an online witch hunt many times.
Entrapment
Fabrication
The things that I was posting were not even my real experience, they were fabricated and dramatized elements of my life that made me look much more adventurous and put together than I actually am.
They are important to me because they highlight just how trapped I was by my online presence and how free I am to connect with others on my own terms now that I have a minimal online presence.
Perfection
I think that the most important parts of my story are the toxicity of constant communication and social media, the pressure of appeasing everyone and looking perfect on social media, and how leaving social media benefited my mental health and personal life.
Taking a Break
Judgement
My story pushes the idea of how constant connection and unlimited access to social media can break down a person. It causes them to live inauthentically with unreal expectations of how they should look, how their life should look, and how they should connect with others
Acceptance of self
Toxicity of constant communication
Realistic views of self and others
Danger
I used to be very active on social media. I was constantly on my phone looking for ways to talk about my life and to the people around me. After an experience with an ex-boyfriend stalking me and harassing me on social media, I deleted all of my social media for years.
After jumping back in I realized how toxic it was for me and how little I wanted to actually post about my life. Posting anything felt like a chore. I have an instagram now, but it is only for my modeling side job.
Taking a break from the toxicity of the internet can align yourself with your life and build more realistic relationships and views on your own life.
Taking a break from your phone and the internet can be great for clearing up false expectations of lifestyles and personal wellbeing.
It is important to break from the online world and to focus on yourself and who you actually are rather than what others are saying you are.
Getting away from your phone and from the internet will only benefit you. It does not have to be for years or permanently, but leaving the internet for several years really helped my mental state and how I connected with others.
Constant online communication is not the only option:
Communication is great but can be toxic
If people understood that you don’t need the internet to connect with each other, and that you can be your authentic self without fearing judgement or cancelation.
Just because the internet can allow you to connect easier with others does not mean that is your only connection or something that you should depend upon.
Msc
Addiction
I want to touch on the topics of obsession and addiction when it comes to the internet and new media. It is not the phone itself but what content is on it. I agree that humans have a yearning for connection and that is the addictive aspect of such technology. It is not the technology itself that people are addicted to.
Knowledge
Having the ability to gain knowledge and connect with other people as the speed of light is truly wondrous but also can be dangerous.
Though I recognize the danger that such addiction and constant communication brings, the benefit that it has for the acquisition of knowledge cannot be overlooked. Not all online communication is harmful, though online spaces can be ruthless.