Unplugged, Not Under a Rock
November 8, 2024
Writer: Mia Bronstein
Editor: Hana Pitchon
I am nearly four years sober from social media. Neither Instagram, TikTok, “X,” nor Facebook consume my cognitive abilities or suck up my screen time. I often get told I am “so brave,” or that my actions are wildly impressive. More times than I would have expected, I get asked “why?” The following article is an honest, slightly provocative brain dump—and a justified excuse for me to publish an article with the word “yassify” in it—all while answering this four-year-old question.
On a surface level, I have chosen to keep my life offline for privacy and a sense of control. Recently, a photograph (nothing crazy, just me on the diag) was taken of me and posted on Instagram and mass-distributed on a newsletter cover, over which I had no consent or control. People from various facets of my social circle sent me a screenshot – thus further upsetting me, proving my point, and putting me three steps backward into my journey of digital detox.
After my extensive social psychoanalysis, I came to the realization that people like social media because they desire the power to curate their own narrative—they crave control. As a humanities scholar, I gain a sense of control when I make media and consume film, television, and literature. I think there are other routes for crafting creative narratives and sharing our lives and stories with the world rather than a “cute vacation pic.” I prefer my vacations to remain a vacation by disconnecting.
To be even more transparent, and well, go against my own desires to keep my thoughts and happenings offline, I choose to stay removed. After various personal and global events and mindset-shifting experiences, NEWSFLASH! I realized there are more important things in the world than any number of views, likes, and comments. This is not meant to discredit the positives that come from social media – the worldwide network, easy means of communication, and global platform for doing and sharing good. I know I am not the first person to say this as there are hundreds of articles detailing this exact issue with scientific studies that are more credible than my 1 credit science mini-course to back it up But as a college student studying the production, consumption, and distribution of entertainment, I have experienced no additional difficulty in keeping my personal life offline and still feeling connected to the people that I care about. I am forced to make an active effort that is more meaningful than simply commenting on a distant friend’s post.
Fine, you got me. I don’t need to see/don’t care what people I don’t like are doing! Global media consumption forces people to embellish their lives and take the reality out of it. That is the reason I choose entertainment; it is an escape, and an opportunity for storytelling and experience-sharing. On the contrary, social media is a fictional narrative that takes the truth out of everyday life. There is no presentation of the raw, the real, and the honest. I constantly remind myself that you never know what other people are going through. Everyone has their “thing” they are struggling with, no matter how big, small, obvious, or hidden it is. Social media sucks out our truths and “yassifies” our internal struggles and insecurities.
To each their own, but for me, staying off of social media has drastically changed my perspective on what really matters, given me hundreds of hours of my life back (shifted towards watching TV), and made me more present. I can’t recommend it enough, and would love to yap about it any time: just don’t try reaching me via DM.
Image: Zoe Romeu
