Opinions On Social Media

[Lady Timpani]

I've become a lot more reserved when it comes to social media in the past few years and have actually deleted most of my accounts! The only ones I use now are Pinterest and reddit, although I personally consider reddit to be more akin to a forum like this as opposed to the more prominent social media sites. But I've definitely noticed a shift in attitudes on Pinterest in the last five years or so; I think there was a migration of people from tumblr that's made it kind of annoying to be on. I actually soft deleted my account for a couple months earlier this year just to see what it would be like, but I wound up coming back.

 

[MoogleKupo]

I currently have Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook/Messenger.

I only created FB because somebody made a fake account with my name years ago, one of my friends so that's cool, so I had to establish what was really me. That was 5 years ago and I never post anything because, personally, it sucks. It's full of ads, bunches of BS propaganda, and I get really big cases of FOMO when I see my friends all doing stuff that they didn't invite me to or even tell me about.

I used Snapchat starting in 2018 through senior year and then last year as freshman in college for friends, boyfriend (now disturbing and disgusting ex haha) and basically it died out because nobody was texting me anymore. It was that kind of thing where we'd get busy, I'd check in on them, and they never really cared to talk to me or wonder what I've been through. I never cared, I just wanted to make sure people knew I was still there for them if they needed someone. That backfired I guess, but no regrets ladies and gentleman and other beautiful human beings.

Instagram is the only thing I use now and it's just to look at posts, I've posted stuff, never cared about the likes I get because I've only ever posted for me and because I felt good when I posted it. I occasionally post on my story, but really since quarantine and my friends all left basically and don't care for me, I've kind of went in the dark. (Sorry this sounds dark but it's true and don't worry! I'm good!!!) It's a nice mental break dealing without social media, not having to text people dry answer or only GET dry answers, keeping streaks, being obtuse, seeing all the great things people do that you can't because you're in lockdown in the United States. Just taking time for myself I guess, it's been really nice actually and I don't regret just leaving the platforms for a while at a time.

 

[brockbrock]

Hate, hate, hate most social media. However, it's a necessary evil for me to use Messenger so that I can keep in touch with certain people, so I have that, and I have a Snapchat with only a few close friends.

 

[Stella-Io]

It is def one of those things that can be really good or really bad. You really have to watch how much you go on it and you really have to make it your own.

I have a Twitter and tumblr (if you count tumblr as a social, some people don't), I mainly use them for videogames and art, but I use them for other stuff too. There is SO MUCH STINKIN TOXICITY on socials omg. Like, it's real bad. So. Bad. It can get bad here (not toxic bad but people still make bad statements here) and on socials its just like 10x worse. Here, we have rules that prevent -most- people from saying outlandishly wild racist/sexist/discriminatory ect... statements. On social media, people have no filter. Zero, none. I will block people I've never seen before because I don't want their racism/sexism/terrible attitude/trolling ect... on any of my posts, and I don't want to see any more of their bad judgment on any other posts I read.

I say all this, but there are plus sides, IF you really are on top of it. Social media can be great for promoting things, and not just big businesses but also small content creators like artists, musicians, crafty people, ect... People share tutorials and even educational things.

But it's not for everyone, and I don't look down on people who refuse to get any form of social media. At some point, if you have one you will need a break from it, it can be quite draining.

 

[CrestFallen]

I think social media is both incredibly good and incredibly bad depending on what you’re looking at. Social media connections people in ways never ever before seen.

Want to chat with old friends on the other side of the country? Send them a message. Want to share something you’re probably of today? Post it on Facebook and let you’re friends and family see. Even things like tiktok give younger people safe spaces to interact with other people of their interests, including but not limited to LGBT and alt fashion communities. I’ve met some amazing friends on various social media platforms who I would have never have met under other circumstances.

on the flip side social media are some of the worst websites out there. Over the years it’s gotten progressively worse but things like cancel culture, which doesn’t allow for growth or forgiveness, wide spread false information, insane amounts of witch hunts and brutal bullying under ‘anonymous’ accounts. And there are a whole bunch of even worse things I can't list here.

Overall social media isn’t inherently good nor bad, it’s just powerful. Its impact on society depends entirely on how people decide to use it.

 

[Katzenjammer]

I don't use any type of social media.

 

[Toska]

I don't really use social media, and never have before. The only thing that could possibly be close to social media is this account and a Pinterest account. I don't have social media because I've saw the affect that it gave on my friends, without them even realizing it. I do believe trying to be "popular" and such is bad for mental health. At a time like this, social media could be convenient so you could talk to your family/friends/etc more often, but the bad still out ways the good.

 

[Soigne]

i’ve recently deleted all forms of social media. in a way, it’s been both good and bad. i don’t waste all my time feeling bad about myself just aimlessly scrolling through various platforms anymore, but now it somewhat feels like i’m disconnected from my friends.

i don’t think i’d like to be friends with people who don’t interact with me off of social media anyhow, though.

 

[Megan.]

I have most social media accounts but I rarely use them these days. My FB and Insta are pretty much dead, the only thing I use now is Twitter however it's getting really toxic on there and the community isn't like it was when I joined in 2009. It's a shame really.

 

[demoness]

i use it all the time. i've always been pretty good at "playing the game" online and off and dominating interactions with others. i guess a little narcissism really does go a long way

 

[Tao]

I have Facebook for messenger and promoting my music. I never post anything outside of that though. Having it is basically a necessity these days.

I have Instagram linked to my Facrbook music page so it just does whatever doing that does. I dont really understand the point or appeal in Instagram, feels like a stripped down version of Facebook...And as I'm aware, owned by the same company, so I reeeeaaaaly dont see the point in it.

Everything else is a total waste of time.

 

[silk.feather]

I have Instagram, mostly to follow people from my school and to watch satisfying videos on igtv. There are some downsides though. Sometimes random people I never knew existed just try to dm me and I block them, but the next week they add me into a group chat, then I block them again. Of course they come back with another account. I’m not sure if it can happen on Instagram, but on imessage if someone random texts you, and you reply back, they can hack and get all your information through that one text back that you say ‘who is this?’. I read an article on it and many peoples iPhones got hacked and broke. The phones never switched on again. Of course if you get hacked it is not under the Apple warranty. There has also been a website thing that has been sent to a large range of people, that if you press the website, it immediately hacks your phone or device, makes your screen white and it takes all of your information. The iPhone does not respond when that happens. It could even be your best friend that sends you the link and it crashes your phone. That’s why you never open a link that you don’t know. Also don’t open a link if it is not secure.

 

[Alienfish]

It destroyed activism for sure and made young people think that they can act how they want in terms of it, for the bad causes.

I use only Instagram (unless you count Discord lol) to follow like, shops and artists (and some J-pop people I like) and I had to unfollow a lot of accounts cause they were like 17 years old posting **** 24/7 about certain issues. So yeah it's good if you want to follow and keep up to date on your fave, artists and such but don't use to crap on older people or just cause they don't want to go outside with a pandemic going on.

(also yes I'm not privileged by any chance but i don't sit and crap on random people on the internet cause they don't help me with that lol)....

 

[Khaoticnoize187]

Forums and discord thats it for me everything else i just stay away from like the plague.

 

[Croconaw]

I do not have any social media. Facebook is trash. I'm so happy to be rid of that useless site. I only use Discord but I'm not in any servers as of this post. I only use it to talk to a select few friends. Most of my time online is spent on forums.

 

[Mokuren]

I don't mind social media but I don't use it much. I think the relationship with the own smartphone has gone to far. You can see it when going out for a coffee. Everyone is playing with their phone instead of talking.

I am a teacher and can observe the trend really well and really TikTok is a bit much. It's so popular here and my students think it actually portraits real life. We need a new subject for internet saftey honestly.

 

[Metal Scorpion]

As someone who's had bad experiences with social media, I'm glad I have cut it out of my life. It was just not for me.

 

[rocketspruggs]

I have a love-hate relationship with social media, I only hate it when I see toxic people around.

 

[wrenbow]

The way social media is designed these days makes it really unhealthy for most people to use, but I think if you curate your timeline properly then it can actually be a good thing. I mostly use it to look at art and fandom stuff and I'm very liberal with muting words and blocking/unfollowing people if I don't want to see something and I very much enjoy my time on social media, although I'm still trying to cut down because it can be distracting. Personally I think I'd be a lot worse off without it.

 

[Snek]

I think if you removed social media the world would be a better place lol

I used to go on lots of social media but not now because the environments are either toxic or not as interesting anymore. Some, like Tiktok, are so bad I have never used them. I think too many people care about or they think of others than what they think of themselves. There's a good feeling of just unplugging and finding things that bring you joy than worrying about what others post because many "influencers" only care for clicks, not you.