If someone asks a person in Gen-Z whether they have been talked down upon due to how much they use their phone, it’d probably be difficult to find anyone who hasn’t.
Have a headache? Your parents will probably blame your phone. Stomach hurts? It’s that phone. Miss deadline for an assignment? Again, it’s your phone.
This discourse has been the subject of memes online about anything possible going wrong having to do with the smartphones many of us carry daily. And while these memes can be funny, they’re also accurate.
Modern social media platforms are a cesspool – an expert does not need to be the one to say this. When people’s feeds are clogged with disinformation, AI slop that only becomes more advanced and somewhat convincing by the day and posts purposely meant to cause vitriol and spread hatred, it’s hard to imagine how anyone can find these spaces enjoyable.
Is this true for everyone? Not quite, as social media algorithms can vary per person. However, this doesn’t mean that some people have a “unicorn” feed where they only see content they like or posts that are never negative – that’s just next to impossible.
As dramatic as this may be, these soul-sucking platforms have done significant damage to how people in our generation act socially.
Instead of just living in the moment and trying to appreciate what is going on around oneself, the fear of missing out (FOMO) and the need to appear as though one is living an interesting and exciting life is so strong that nothing else matters. The show must go on to make the perfect social media feed – a good façade, even.
What good does this do? Absolutely nothing. Continually “faking it until you make it” with the hopes of people falling for this guise of an exciting life only gives more justification for these predatory social media platforms to infiltrate more aspects of one’s life.
When tons of people continue to manufacture an idea of what they’re doing to not seem boring, all it does is add to a continually growing pile of illegitimacy. Getting out of the house, apartment or dorm to get a bunch of pictures to look as though you’re doing something interesting but quickly going back home once that “Instagram-able” moment is found does not count as getting out.
One phrase goes against this idea better than anything: touch grass. And don’t get a picture of the grass or take a video of you touching grass to prove that you’re doing something worthwhile either.
Instead, it’s time people abandon these worries and the need to show people that exciting things are happening in your life. After all, nobody is owned anything from anyone. You shouldn’t feel like you must prove yourself to any individual, group or cluster of followers to feel worthwhile.
And once you realize that not everything needs to be posted about and not every aspect of your life needs to be broadcast online, things might feel less stressful now that you don’t have to keep up the façade hundreds of other people around you may be putting up. Perhaps then that “damn phone” can loosen its grip over your social life and your well-being.
