

Instagram and self-esteem - prostoalex
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html

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rfnslyr
Bit of a rant:

I believe social media has created a medium of indulgence to engulf yourself
in, fueled by the insecurity of knowing that if you're not on it, you won't be
"fed". I see so many teenagers and people that only
instagram/facebook/twitter/tumblr. All the time. All. The. Time. All the
motherfucking time. It's really sad. I see groups of friends hanging out all
on their phones? I've noticed this trend with my friends too so much so that
we created a rule to dispose of our phones temporarily when we're hanging out.
Nobody reads anymore. Nobody cares. They just care about themselves. What has
been previously Math and Science is now Social media.

Social media opens up the floodgates to jealousy and envy. Just recently my
friend called me crying because two friends she was supposed to hang out with
recently said they had other priorities, which is fine, but then on Facebook
she saw they were doing something together.

I remember myself in my state of depression. I'd be on Facebook constantly.
I'd always have a chat going, always some sort of interaction. I lost about 2
years to this bullshit where previously, I was able to sit down, load up some
ancient textbook and have fun sitting around and poking through it and hacking
and experimenting. Loneliness never creeped in. Depression never creeped in.
This was back when hanging out was only arranged by calling someone and saying
"Be at X at Y time." And that's it.

Social media has created a culture of absolute drones and it greatly saddens
me to see its influence on the young. It permeated a volatile culture of
instability and insecurity.

I've since deleted my social media accounts and strictly you use
email/text/phone which is way more than enough. My life has never been better.
I am able to do work again and have fun. Good riddance. I am no longer found
caring about every aspect of others lives and all the intangibles that
surround it. Friends literally ask me "Yo this girl I was talking to liked my
status, does she want to fuck?" Is this where we are going?

I also believe social media is responsible for the apathy of our people in
light of recent events. If you were going to tell someone in the early 1900's
that all their communications were being monitored, they would fucking flip a
shit. Why? Because communication is the central most important thing, ever. If
you don't have communication, you have no way to organize, no way to anything.
No way to organize an uprising, no way to fight the government.

Now that we take communication for granted, while maintaining all other
aspects of our lives (able to buy food, work a job, watch TV, do whatever
menial things), then nothing will change.

