The social media landscape is a mess. As of this writing Meta has revised its policies to make Facebook, Instagram and Threads more like X, X has been taken over by the right wing, and TikTok has sucked up to Trump to avoid a ban. Powerful governments and billionaires are playing puppet master with these platforms that we are using to connect, organize and build community. Or at least we think that is what we are doing.
Who knows if the new platforms will be any better? Are they owned by private equity? Do they allow hate speech? Do we flock like lemmings from one platform to another or do we stay to be manipulated by the algorithm?
Not that our experience on social media has been that great anyway. I open Instagram to post a photo and am immediately sucked into the first video which has been carefully selected for me to do just that. And then the scroll begins; the noise, rage-bait and pretty pictures distract me and I forget why I was there in the first place. An hour later I shake myself free, and I still haven’t posted that photo.
There was a time when that was exactly what I needed. In January of 2024 I started posting little videos on Instagram. I was burned out and extremely sick from MS, with serious cognitive problems that made focusing and organizing my thoughts difficult. At that point I had stopped working and spent a lot of time on the couch resting but I couldn’t read or knit, and it was a year before I picked those things up again. I could however make 5 second videos with short captions and post them on the internet, so this became my hobby. I would love a neuroscientist’s explanation of why my broken brain was so well suited to this chaotic short form medium, but it is telling nonetheless.
Now that I have started knitting again and reading books I find that that being on Instagram jumbles my brain, leaving me confused and disoriented. I want to focus on one thing but the platform pulls me in too many directions in a very short time. I cannot linger and consider some of the very interesting and thought-provoking messages that come across my feed because there is always something else right after. By the time I have seen a dozen posts I am saturated and the mindless scrolling sets in.
I would like to think deeply, think critically about a subject and spend some time lingering on it. I would like to create more slowly, without all the distractions, and still be able to share it with you. So here I am with my old school blog, a platform I own, taking my time to think and write and share. It feels like the most natural thing to do right now and I hope you agree.
What are your thoughts on social media right now? What platforms will emerge? Are you happy to see a return to blogging?
mette more slowly 