P.S. My answer to the title is in the end of this pretty lengthy (and maybe controversial) post
My relationship with SNS (Social Networking Service) has increasingly become a love-hate one of late.
First it was Twitter. After around 3 years of tweeting and re-tweeting and favouriting, I decided slightly over half a year ago to cease any further involvement in that segment of the internet.
Why? It just got plain boring. I don't need to know who lost their keys, or is having a bad headache, or is bored (oh the irony), okay?
To me, Twitter has become a public complaining hotspot. Enter your timeline, it's flooded with tweets either attacking at some mysterious person (which, I am never able to understand, what is the benefit of raining your insults on us innocent followers. Just go confront the person himself and save us the annoyance of sieving through your rage) or being used by people to broadcast every little insignificant detail of their daily life.
And now, it seems like Facebook is surrendering itself to a similar fate, too.
8 years on Facebook has made me ask:
Do I need that many friends?
Yes, FB is a great way to catch up with friends, see what they're up to, chat, all that good stuff. But when I ask myself the question "Do I REALLY care what all 600+ of my 'friends' are doing?" The answer would be a resounding 'No'.
Honestly, I have no idea how I amassed that number of contacts on my account. I'm not bragging, there are many people who boast double, maybe triple of that amount on their profiles. However, 600 is a tad too much for my taste. Many of these 'friends' are people I've only literally spoken a word or two with. Some were those I met for a day, then we decided to have each other's presence online to 'keep in touch'. I guess I have to admit FB is a good way to reach out to these hi-bye friends or acquaintances without needing to get their personal phone number. But how often do we actually need to contact these 'friends'? And how does what they do in their lives actually matter to us? Think about it.....
Is there actually worthy content?
For quite some time, Facebook has actually given me a lot of joy and entertainment through the Kpop fan pages I've liked, with their endless updates of fanfics and memes and gossip. But I guess celebrity news were more meaningful to the 15 year old me than the 19 year old one who prefers to just enjoy the music, not the artist.
What about real news, you may ask? After all, Facebook is a great place to get to know the latest on goings. Of course, whether they are newsworthy or not, that's another question (Sorry, just had to mention that, journalism student instincts). And yeah, Facebook was my main way of getting news, especially on politics where its free from the censorship of mainstream media. But these days, it takes endless scrolling to before chancing upon a mildly interesting read. And along the way, it's only too easy to be sidetracked by an eye catching Vine video or picture. Then the next thing you know, you've spent two hours stalking a complete stranger's profile, or watching cats chase dogs.
We've all been there.
Has it stolen my life?
The scariest thing about Facebook and the rest of SNS isn't just that it wastes time, it's the fact that it's addictive. Once you start, you never seem to want to stop. Every trivial and superficial content that you encounter seems to pull you in like a magnet, compelling you to stay and scroll some more. It was the realization that I was tapping the blue app on my phone out of habit, rather than actual need, that shook me out of the depths of this SNS addiction.
And then you realize, once you get out of its clutches, how much you've missed out in real life. In short, staying away from SNS has given me more time. More time to do a lot of things I enjoy but just 'didn't have the time' to do, like reading a good novel before bed, relax with a movie, play the piano, or write (Like now!). Because those 10-15 minutes I spent scrolling through Facebook or Twitter each time all add up, and by the end of the day, it results in a massive wastage of time and energy.
Where is it taking the younger generation?
It saddens me to see kids these days, obsessed with social media and just not taking the time to stop and smell the roses. Kids 10 years my junior are now having a childhood so vastly different from when I was their age, just a mere 10 years ago.
Almost every kid nowadays owns a smartphone and multiple SNS accounts. Being so young, they don't realize that what they see online never reflects a reality. They get drowned into the obsession of competing for the most Instagram followers and the most Likes on a photo, feeling insecure and ashamed when their friends have better online personas than they do. But that's all, isn't it? ONLINE personas. But being kids, how would they understand that their actual value does not equal their popularity in the virtual world?
SNS is a dangerous hobby to have. It's creating all these unnecessary problems that I never had to face as a child. When I was in primary school, my free time was spent playing Legos, reading story books, and biking around my neighborhood, not choosing the best filter for my selfie and worrying about how many likes I would get. I did things to make myself happy, not to show others.
So, will I really say sayonara to social media?
Honestly, I don't think it's possible.
We live in an era where we are connected through technology. To shun it completely and go back living in the dinosaur age would be an act of ignorance. I like to use Whatsapp a lot, for instance, just because private messaging is more meaningful than having someone's selfie shoved in your face. Nothing still beats the intimacy of face to face conversation, though.
Ultimately, I believe it's the choices we make about SNS that will make the difference. It's a conscious choice to control social media, and not let it control you.
I will still be keeping my Facebook account. As much as I'm fed up with Facebook (enough to make an entire blog post out of it), there are still important groups that I check in for updates on Uni or other club related updates. And to share this blog with more audience, I suppose...? It's such a double edged sword, ugh.
But other than the time used for that necessity, I will be exchanging a Facebook for a REAL book instead.
