Social Media is not Fun

Jen and her cats

Jan 3

Daily writing prompt

Do you play in your daily life? What says "playtime" to you?

Do you know what it means to play? Here's the definition of play from Oxford Reference.

Maybe you know how to make it seem like fun. You take great photos with friends enjoying meals, concerts, and so on, to post to social media and rack up those likes.

But did you enjoy it? If a recent article in WAPO entitled Fun is Dead is to be believed, many of us are much better at taking photos of good times than we are at actually enjoying ourselves and have turned to happiness podcasts and coaches to learn how to play and have fun.

I've been thinking about this as I ponder my relationship to social media. Facebook and Twitter used to be places to engage with others with similar interests, but not anymore. I left X a few months ago. I remain on Facebook and Threads to develop community while I decide what to do about my blog, but I don't find it at all fun anymore. Few people interact and both sites are nothing but political propaganda, memes I've already seen a dozen times, and pics of cats that look just like the ones sleeping on my furniture. How sad is that?

Obligatory cat pic. Not posed.

So in case you were wondering if I enjoy your fake fun times pics where everyone exposes all their teeth when they smile, the answer is most assuredly, "No." Just as you're not interested in my same old cat pics.

If it's not fun, why are we doing it? Is it really more important to impress others than to enjoy ourselves? Have we become so afraid of living a unique and fantastic life that we struggle to conform to some sort of algorithmic ideal?

I don't pretend to have the answer for you. I don't even have the answer for me. But I do know something has to change, because I am no longer down for all this crap. I deserve better. I want to actually have fun, not simply make you think I do. If you have ideas about the topic I'd love to hear them.