Social Media is Dangerous to the mind

Cobra! So I was reading this post on Midnight pub that really got me thinking about things.

I had done something very similar to what this guy did, but with my iPad.

To give some background, at night, when I finish work on my projects for my day, I spend a few hours at night just relaxing and going on my iPad until like 3-4 in the morning doing whatever. Mostly browse Gemini, but there was some Reddit and Discord there, too.

I hate social media, and big tech, with an absolute passion, I'm sure that's not exactly a hot take on Geminispace, but I hate how my data is being harvested without my consent, and how the algorithms are making me addicted to their platforms to increase my engagement on them so they can show me more ads.

So I decided enough was enough and deleted all proprietary, company owned social medias on my iPad.

Like the person in the post, I felt like I always went on my iPad out of habit, and just stared at the screen where I would usually be scrolling through Reddit.

Then I found myself doing something, anything, to get these dopamine hits I got from Reddit. I was actually experiencing withdrawal, like one would if they were quitting fizzy drinks or smoking.

It made me realise how addictive these social medias can be, and how dangerous they can be to the mind. It's honestly a wonder these haven't been cracked down on... actually no it's not, Capitalism is why, but still.

I knew social media was made to be addictive, but I always thought I was immune to that, or really subconcously saw it as *too* much of an issue, but I was wrong on both counts. This is a serious problem that isn't being talked about enough. Guess it's just another in a long line of issues with social media.

Anyway, I just wanted to let this out. I feel like I have a lot more to say, but I can't summarise what's left with words, so I'm going to stop it here. Thanks for reading.

I don't want to go back to using Social Media, but I'm pretty sure this withdrawal isn't good for me, either.

---