I dare myself to delete this…and this happened.
There are times when I miss the good ‘ole days. But, as I look now, did the beginning create issues in me that I didn’t have before?
The Q Six Castle and the Social Cost Series: 1.4
MySpace was founded in 2003 by two college students at the time, Thomas Anderson and Chris DeWolf, who created a platform meant for people to communicate virtually. Little did I know, the trajectory of my life changed — 15 years later.
At school, I was known as a friendly nerd, who smiled all of the time and was bullied to carry everyone’s lunch trays. My lack of assertiveness created chaos in trying to figure out how to “fit in” with the popular factions.
After graduating 8th-grade, I created a profile so I could have a way to connect with friends. From there, my shyness diminished.
MySpace was my chance to reinvent and challenge myself to get out of my bashfulness. The thought of having a way to connect with people, in reality, was something I didn’t consider. And the great bonds I made produced great friendships.
Teenagers are now are at a higher risk of having mental health issues due to the use of social media. According to a study from John Hopkins University, a doctoral student in the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School, Kira Riehm mentioned how teenagers who use social media suffers internal and external issues. “Our study shows that teens who report high levels of time spent on social media are more likely to report internalizing problems a year later,” Riehm said.
I don’t recall MySpace negatively impacting my mental health. I learned the value of basic coding and HTML. Every moment I enjoyed recreating my “page.” I established a new desire for photography that I didn’t have before. And yes, I can brag that my generation created the common photography pose still used ‘till this day — the selfie.
With so many platforms out there today such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, many teenagers and adults spend an average of 3 hours on social media every day. Those individuals who tend to scroll for long periods of time find themselves in a search loophole.
An article from yogiapproved.com by Jillian Halliday, mentions how side effects are caused by social media use —one of the common effects is depression. The feeling of being inadequate can be taxing to the human’s mental compacity. Can you say that is true?
There were many tools of communication then that significantally set the pace for what it is now. The common platforms mostly used were emails (Yahoo Mail!, AOL) and video chats (AIM, Oovoo). Those platforms were the beginning of influencing people to find multiple ways of not feeling alone.
After all, I’ve been lying to myself for the past 15 years.
My actions on social media over the years did help me get out of my comfort zone of being shy, I can testify to its validity. However, I did find myself comparing to others constantly, always feeling I need to be in the “know” on what is going on, and believing I was hurt because one of my so-called “good friends” deleted me?
Wow. Oh, how much whining and complaining did I do.
So you may be wondering what was this dare I’ve done, and what really happened?
I’ve deleted all of my social media accounts. Yes, I said it.
For a month, so far I found myself not trying to keep up on the latest trends, I don’t compare myself with my peers and colleagues, and I don’t beat myself up anymore if I am not at the elite level in my career and life.
So far, I sense freedom from worldly toxicity! And to further add more flavor to this conversation, I dare you to delete your social media! If you want.
What are you waiting for? You really have nothing to lose.
Let’s have a conversation!
Email me: mralcspeaks@alonzoclark.com
