For years, I used social media. I joined Facebook in 2007, and at the time, it was great: a place where my uni friends and I shared photos and stories from the night before.
Facebook, however, has slowly descended into a mess as businesses and advertising have taken over. The goal is no longer connection or shared experience; it’s about getting ads in front of as many people as possible. Attention is currency.
I decided to leave Facebook entirely, although I kept my profile live. During COVID, the surge in local groups was the tipping point: it went completely off the rails.
Now, when I log on, I see little surprise: fake news, items for sale that should be in the bin, and people complaining about car parking. This isn’t a space for shared experience. It isn’t a place I want to spend time.
I left Facebook and moved on to Instagram and LinkedIn, which initially felt better because each had a purpose: LinkedIn for work, Instagram for fun.
But slowly, the need for quarterly growth transformed both into doomscroll machines. They’re built to keep us scrolling, eyes fixed, selling us more stuff we don’t need or want. I see less content from people I know and like, and more from people I’ve never heard of. And ads, always ads.
Underlining it all, there’s something truly sinister about big platforms telling people that if they post regularly and “try a bit harder,” they could go viral and become rich. They give examples like MrBeast, with 300 million subscribers, making millions from a single video. “This could be you,” they say, while you create content for free and they sell ads, and make money from your content. Fuck that.
I’ve left my social media profiles public, but they’ll link here. Going forward, I’ll post only on this blog: a space I control, away from algorithms and AI slop. No “thumb-stopping” images, no clickbait. Just real thoughts about what I’m building.
Sure, fewer people will read my content, but I hope those who do will have a shared interest and genuine curiosity.
I’m not trying to go viral. I don’t want to be famous. The constant pandering for attention on social media isn’t good for society or for individuals. It drives narcissism and builds a reliance on external approval.
I don’t want to live in a world where someone’s value is measured in followers and likes. I want a world governed by reason, ideas, and actions.
