October 6, 2021 Ironic

Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp disappeared from our lives on Monday. The world was free of its greatest mass addiction for most of the day. 

Imagine if it had never come back? Was it a mass hack that took everyone’s online life? Stole the virtual world we live in…

And lost it?

Lost. I felt the innate feeling inside when I logged into Facebook. Where did it go?

My precious.

It felt like a scene from Lord of The Rings.

I can imagine people around the world felt that loss or an even more intense loss. It is an addiction those social media giants have inflicted upon our society. I don’t think Mark Zuckerburg started out thinking he would be responsible for creating so much social upheaval in the digital world. Or did he?

Social media has taken on a life of its own. It is out of control and more than one person has found themselves sucked into the rabbit hole of the digitalverse. 

In the before times prior to 2020 I remember going on Facebook and sharing stories and pictures with my friends and family all over the world. People posted their amazing vacations and social gatherings. We shared concert pics and real cool shit. Sometimes people even shared their favourite meal.

Now it’s ads and covid. 

Once in a while, people still share real cool shit. But I find it harder to filter it from all the bullshit.

Sure, back in the day in the before times there was political division and there was hate. But there was a lot of love as well.

Some of my friends in Facebook land have opted out, they are tired of the negative and tired of being bombarded by ads.

Instagram and Whatsapp are other forms of social media that are also highly addictive and have consequences for the people that use them. But like many things that are addictive they have their benefits. But the price is high.

Our youth are being indoctrinated into the online world and now know no different. Instagram is a way for teens to connect and to lose themselves. I wonder how many distraught teenage girls there were on blackout Monday. A day when tragedy struck the virtual world so many of us live in.

I will try to resist the urge to check my facebook account. I don’t think I’m ready to quit yet.

Are you?