
Once upon a time (circa 2015) Facebook was an enjoyable pastime. I loved jumping online to do a quick check on friends and family across the world. I mean what a tool! I could easily fawn over a friend’s new baby, congratulate someone on landing a dream job or graduating school, laugh at a funny meme, and then go about my day in the same or better mood I had been in before I opened my feed. Those days have died. I hate Facebook now.
I hate saying that I hate Facebook, but currently I do. Facebook has become a never-ending reel of continuous negativity, a constant stream of hatred and anger. Whether I agree with your political views or not, the nonstop bashing of “the Other” has taken its toll on me.
Frankly, it’s damn depressing. Depression and social media correlation is nothing new. Plenty of articles have been written about how comparing your life to other’s “highlight reels” is a surefire way to end up feeling like your life is somehow less than. It makes sense. When you see your high school acquaintance going on these lavish vacations while you’re struggling to make rent it’s inevitable to feel like your life sucks. It takes some serious soul-searching and an understanding that people usually only show the best of their lives on Facebook to make you step back and be ok.
Besides, looking a pretty pictures is always fun, even if they aren’t yours. What’s happening now is different. The political negativity that bombards us every freaking day on Facebook not only make one depressed about their own life, it makes one depressed about all life. Not only is our personal life not working out as we planned, now apparently the country is done for. We will be at war in two years! Everything is going to shit! WE’RE DOOMED!! Have a nice day…..
Well, thanks.
Not to mention, those posts, those memes, those endless articles, they will do NOTHING to change the opinions of others who don’t agree with you. You are preaching to your own choir and pissing everyone else off. You might be thinking, “Well, there’s a block feature for a reason”, but here’s the thing; I don’t want to block people. Even those people who posts those political pieces are my friends. Peppered amongst the sludge of their political rancor are great things, like pictures of their families, images from fun vacations, basically anything other than politics. And so because of that, I don’t unfollow unless the posting is so one-sided you don’t have another option.
So please, let’s stop posting this political crap. If you are so inclined to stand on your soapbox, there are better forums than your wall feed to do so. You still won’t change any hearts and minds, but hey, you can at least get your jollies off. I’ll end it with this. I would rather have a feed filled with pictures of food, puppies, gym selfies, and MLM posts rather than one more damn political meme. So too, I bet, would most everyone else.