Emptiness

Social media can be a hollow, empty experience.

It’s the truth, friends, and I see it everyday. From the teenagers posting hundreds of selfies, to the blogger receiving only “likes”, and the countless individuals reaching out with no one to grab ahold of. How many people can honestly say, if they evaluate their use of social media, that it brings them lasting satisfaction? I know I can’t. I honestly have a love/hate relationship. It’s like that boyfriend who I can’t live with anymore, I can’t stand to be around, yet I won’t leave him because I feel there’s no one else out there for me and we’re destined for a life of worthless together-ness. (This isn’t a confession, don’t worry. I’m single.)

Yes. You read correctly. I’m single.

But that’s not what I came here to say (the flaunting of my singlehood). I’m saying people are incredibly, undeniably lonely. But they don’t know what to do about it. Instead of calling, or setting up a real-time get together, they post another picture of their hair in the hopes of receiving complimentary validation. We’ve all done it. You have, I have, the dog has. Unfortunately, a couple of “likes” is only going to leave us disappointed.

I conducted a social experiment this year. On my social media poison of choice, I resolved to write a comment for every “like” I clicked in the hopes of generating more conversation. I found two people out of 200 who responded well to this. It was actually rather frustrating, but now at least I know I have two people to talk to who will respond. If I could change anything about social media, I would remove all “like” buttons and emoticons. It wouldn’t solve the issue, I know. But it might help. To “like” is to be lazy–and, friends, even I am guilty of such. I’m not here to judge or condemn, I am merely another media user reaching out into her community.

Because social media is hollow and lonely.

I envision social media becoming the downfall of the human self-esteem, and the rise of suicide rates.

As always, this has been,

FanTC