I remember seeing this article when it came out last year, but still found it interesting this time round.
I have been hesitant to be active in social media both for fear of “the baddies” and to protect my own mental health because my brain loooooves social media. I have to do social media for work so I can’t ever escape it, and my few experiences with nasty assholes on my work account reminds me what a thin skin I have.
Lately I’ve realized it’s a kind of hideaway that stops any risk of being attacked but also means that no one sees my work. I’ve preemptively deplatformed myself.
I’mnot reaping one of the real benefits of the internet, meeting other people around the world. My husband, a gamer, has friends all over the US and Canada and Brazil, while I don’t really have any internet friends (yet).
I’ve been attempting to post but not read the feed, which hasn’t really been successful — you can’t meet people just by throwing your work out and hoping someone will read it, you have to engage.
I’m still wary, especially now when tensions between schools of polical thought are so high, but know I need to make more of an effort to interact and put myself out there if I want to get out of social media what it has to offer.
