This is a very personal post for me, I hope it helps others who may be going through the same thing.
I've had a Facebook page for so long, it hard to remember a time without it. Recently, I looked at my Facebook app and I just didn't want it anymore. I didn't want to see random pictures of people I barely spoke too or events I had no intention of going too or news I was not interested in. So I deleted my Facebook page.
The weird thing is and I believe this was by design of the creators of Facebook, I felt a pang of sadness and regret once I pressed the delete button. How will my family and friends get in contact with me? How will I know what's going on? I won't be able to promote my website, etc. Social Media has made it possible for me to meet many, many fascinating and inspiring people. I've been able to speak with people in STEM, Aerospace, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency I would not have even known existed let alone become friends with but Social Media has also been the cause of so much depression and anxiety and if you suffer from these issues as I do, a constant source of it is a recipe for disaster.
For those of you reading this who are in crypto and investing think about Social Media as a mixture of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) all wrapped into one.
But why is that? When you spend a long time looking at curated lives, lives that have been run through filters and edited for the best result, it's easy to think that your life is not good enough. When you look into the mirror and see yourself but then you look at Instagram and see all of these fit, beautiful people and start to hate yourself because you are not like them and because of that, it's time to delete.
I do want to add, though, that Social Media can be used for great good. Like I said before, it allows us to connect with people we wouldn't normally be able too and document instantly the goings on in the world like in Egypt during the Arab Spring and marches and rallies across America and the world but if all you are doing is sitting alone in your bedroom at night and just scrolling through other people's lives and comparing them to you, I believe it's time to make a change.
So, now what? Well, I'm going to have to get back into the habit of calling friends and family, even texting to find out how they are. I'm going to have to go out and meet fellow techies and crypto enthusiast via meetups and conferences, I'm going to have to find something else to do instead of spending large amounts of time scrolling through pictures of other people's lives and get back to living my own again.
Maybe it's time we all do that.
Take Care….