As a retired person, I find I am spending more time than ever on social media. I usually get lost in it for the first couple of hours of my day and then often revisit my favorite site before dinner for an hour. I have even amassed a shocking number of followers. This began as a quest for engagement with other writers, but has now diverged into listening to listening to homespun musicians and indigenous speakers , to name a few of my interests. While there is certainly no harm in this, I am left wondering if it’s the best use of my time.
When I retired from teaching eight years ago, I was struck by how the older students all wanted to be influencers when they grew up. This had become their reality, having no experience with the outside world of work. Now I understand why. They were spending all their free time watching the same “performers” online as me, with different niche interests, of course. Getting “monetized” is now a major life goal for young people. I worry about their addiction to screen time being far more pervasive than my own.
It’s not hard for me to imagine life without social media. When I grew up, listening to albums was the most common passtime of youth and our way of escaping and decompressing. I’m not sure if anyone under thirty could just give up social media so easily. It has become so engrained into the fabric of daily life. I see the value in or connecting internationally over mutual interests. But young people also refer to the need for a regular “detox” from this constant stimulation. Getting back into nature is a pervasive longing of this generation, if they only had the time.
So I’m going to try it now cold turkey for a week and see how it feels. Will I miss the constant barrage of cute content? Hard to say. What do you think? Are you addicted to social media? Please subscribe / leave a comment below.
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