The World Was a Better Place When Facebook Went Down
Facebook is the equivalent to smoking for your mental health
Pop quiz people. What’s oddly worth billions of dollars, is ran by one of the lizard people and is warping the collective minds of society? If you said Facebook, you are correct. Did the title give it away? On October 4th 2021 Facebook went down for like six hours or something and while that tiny window of time felt like an eternity to some, it was just barely a glimmer in the Universes time frame.
I’ve done my best to imagine what it’s like to keep a straight face and have these words escape me, “oh good, Facebook is back up.” Personally, I’m way more likely to say something like, “Oh boy, Christmas shopping,” or “Yes! Extra innings!”
Seriously though, the world was a better place for like six hours on that day. Millions upon millions were forced to push through their momentary frustration and look away from their screen and maybe, just maybe, think for themselves for a while and even potentially, *horrified gasp* look another human being in the eyes and experience a tiny shred of this lost emotion known as empathy.
Now that it’s back up and working as though nothing ever happened people can go back to being a sociopath and say things online to strangers that they would never and I mean NEVER say to their faces. They can continue feigning disgust because another person, one amongst billions on this vast planet has the audacity to have a different opinion than they do. Okay, seriously, what do you expect? Explain it to me, I’m listening, I promise I’m good at listening so please tell me how one can mentally pretzel themselves into thinking that the other seven and a half billion on this planet is supposed to think exactly like them. Sorry… rant over. *Breath Scott…*
Facebook makes us worse human beings
Let’s just be really honest for a moment. Social media makes us worse human beings. It robs us of enjoying present moments, severs us from real meaningful human connection, pits us against each other and lulls us into alpha brain wave states where critical thinking dies. Still undeterred? Did you know that many social media executives won’t let their children use it? Still warm and fuzzy about social media then perhaps consider taking a look under the hood with the research done correlating social media and teen depression and suicide?
The research on social media and its profound negative effects on mental health is a dark rabbit hole. There isn’t any good news or silver linings. It’s just flat out bad. Bad for our minds, bad for our relationships and bad for humanity. I am convinced it is the great destroyer of empathy that enables people to let their internal hatred and unresolved parent issues be unleashed without pause or hesitation. It’s easy, after all, to hide behind the safety of the keyboard and feeds into this ugly delusion that there are bad people in the world and virtually screaming at them because their opinions don’t match our own is somehow doing some kind of good in the world. Sorry folks. It’s not.
“Social media makes us worse human beings”
It’s as though people somehow think they are being rebellious, counter-culture or somehow fighting the man by going online and letting their empathy die. Their egos have conjured these enemies and so they mindlessly throw themselves into the fray day after day. Do you want to do something counter-culture, do you really? Then delete Facebook. Do it now. What’s the matter? Scared? If you really want to do something counter-culture then go throw your phone in a lake but let’s be honest, we need the damn things so operation lake launch is going to have to wait for now.
Healthy people scrap social media because it’s the healthy thing to do. People who are invested in their mental health and spirituality ditch it and never look back. I’ve heard people say some really crazy ass shit over the years but “God, I miss spending time on Facebook” isn’t one of them. The opposite is true. I’ve heard many people celebrate their freedom from it and celebrate the make up sex they are having with actually living in the moment and being grateful for what’s in front of them instead of comparing themselves to some kind of online deceit.
I had to wake up
I am honestly being a bit of a hypocrite though. Once upon a time, I had fallen into the trap and I would mindlessly scroll through useless online smut. At first, social media seemed harmless and perhaps it was but little by little my health and happiness fell into a state of decay and the warm blue glow of Facebook enabled me to remain in a state of denial.
Fixing the mess that was my physical and mental health seemed daunting and overwhelming and the constant state of online comparisons only made it worse. It was just too easy to fall for the fake facade that people portray themselves and their lives as. My Facebook page essentially became a dishonest commercial for my life so that I could take some kind of temporary solace in the feeling that someone might be envious of my lies while my real life actually continued to fall into a state of decay.
Facebook turned into a little bit of an escape. A way for me to ignore how unhappy I was and how unsatisfied I was feeling with my life. Facebook isn’t admittedly the only culprit. I also used things like video games and alcohol but these other two things can at least be moderately enjoyable when Facebook is like drinking a mug full of hot muddy water. It’s just hot garbage. Okay okay, that’s not entirely fair. I know that a lot of people put out a lot of positive and quality content but I don’t like have to dig through a pit of stinky mud in order to find the small nuggets of gold.
When Facebook went down some people were even speculating that it wasn’t just having some technical issues, it had been sabotaged. It wasn’t just down, they said, it was GONE. Yeah, I wish. I wish that I, and humanity, was that lucky. Like Mario getting that precious mushroom, humanity would have gotten a major upgrade, at least temporarily. For now, I am just left to implore you to take the leap into self-love and delete the Facebook app on your phone. You’ll get through the withdrawals in a few days. It will be uncomfortable but trust me, you won’t just live through it, you may even start truly living.
Truly Living
The art of truly living is a paradise lost, my friends and it’s time for us to reclaim it. It’s time to reclaim our minds, reclaim our time and reclaim our relationships. We need to take the higher road and nope out of this fake moral pit fight. You owe it to yourself to do your best to pick up where you left off and figure out what it means to truly find yourself. There are probably tons of worthwhile things that you tell other people that you “don’t have time for” but let’s be honest, you exactly have enough time for exactly what is important to you.
“Don’t die with the music still in you”
The late and great Wayne Dyer used to say “don’t you dare die with the music still in you” and what he meant is that each person has something positive and amazing to contribute and one of the best things we can do for ourselves and each other is to discover that great thing and courageously share it with the world. Facebook and social media severely undermine our ability to allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to share something. I know what people can be, I see it in them and it’s sad that they withhold it because of how dark ugly people spend their time crusading around the internet and anonymously tearing people down. Just try to remember and keep in mind that they don’t hate you. They hate themselves.
Let me ask you this. What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Most of us are so blinded by fear we can’t even answer this question but what I can tell you is that when you break free of fear, amazing things happen. What does this have to do with Facebook? We alter our behavior because of Facebook. Admit it, you’re terrified of getting a dislike, downvote or angry face of any kind? Facebook has conditioned us on a mass scale to dear disapproval. This is an ugly lie and an irrational fear. I get it, I’ve done it, I’ve allowed the hypocritical judgments of others to alter my behavior and thereby control me. If I can get rid of Facebook, you can too. If I can do it, you can do it.
My hope is that one day we will see social media as it is. As bad for your mental health as smoking is for your physical health. Don’t believe me? Give it up and see how you feel. Notice how much better your life gets. Peace and love friends and down with social media.
