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Social Media : Good? Bad? Indifferent?

springlering62
springlering62 Posts: 9,409 Member
edited April 29 in Debate Club

How do you feel about social media?

How has it affected you, for good or for bad?

Other than MFP, I’ve only done Facebook, but dropped off it about three years ago, after turning over the reins as “Communications Chair” for our HOA.

I no longer needed to be on it every day. (No I couldn’t keep your neighbor’s dog from pooping on your lawn!) I found myself getting depressed looking at so much posed and polished perfection. Perfect husband, perfect families, perfect holidays, perfect views, perfect homes.

I’m not complaining. I have a great husband, kids, home. But we’re not perfect, nor would I ever be such a poser as to make others think so. Extended family? We’d make Springer blanch.

But seeing the perfection of others was overwhelming Crushing, even

Facebook was making me cry, consuming me. Why aren’t we like that? Why didn’t we get invited to this? Why aren’t our kids as devoted as theirs? Everyone forgets about us. What’s wrong with us?

Getting off Facebook was liberating. I just don’t care any more.

I see so many users here obsessed with things they’ve seen on social media The “fitspiration” thing. The Manosphere. The makeup videos. The hard this, the 4-day diet that. Utterly ridiculous -even dangerous- ads and content that come up.


One of my kids has been off for years The other only maintains a presence for business, and Buy Nothing type groups.

Ironically, my husband who does social media for a couple of civic groups, I’m watching him be utterly absorbed, to the point I’ve had to get after him for getting up in the middle of the night to look at freaking Facebook (No, it’s not that. I trust him implicitly ) He just likes the social connection. He’s like a teenager with his face buried in the phone. We walk the dog and he’s twenty steps behind, scrolling Facebook. (His friends are all old as dirt, too, so ya know it has to be Facebook, right?😅)

A friend who recently retired as head of the English Department at a state uni had an interesting take on it She said the kids used to line up and chatter noisily waiting for the classroom to be available. Now she’s says it’s utterly silent, because they’re all staring at their phones


How do you feel about social media?

Replies

  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 601 Member

    I avoid Facebook's homepage. The sponsored ads and random people posts, melt my brain. I know what you mean by the curated happy unrealistic snapshots on there just leaving you feeling bad, somehow. Comparison is the thief of joy, as they say. Same with the fitspiration, it seems to do the exact opposite of motivating me, unfortunately. I'm also allergic to adverts, they give me hives. White hot rage.

    I have a love hate relationship with YouTube. If I'm not careful, I can end up in areas where the videos can have a negative impact.

    BUT, thanks to the many people making videos on there, I've also learnt a lot of things related to my interests and I'm really grateful.

    Other than these and MFP, that's about the extent of my social media activities.

    "A friend who recently retired as head of the English Department at a state uni had an interesting take on it She said the kids used to line up and chatter noisily waiting for the classroom to be available. Now she’s says it’s utterly silent, because they’re all staring at their phones"

    Makes my blood run cold. I just find it so eerie.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,296 Member

    No big emotion about it, generally. It's just the sea the culture swims in these days.

    I'm kind of addicted to MFP Community, probably beyond reasonable. But y'all knew that. 😉😆

    I do use Facebook, mostly to stay a little in touch with distant friends/relatives or keep up with activities of nearby ones. I experience it like a real-time version of the round-robin pen pal letters some people used to do in the way-back olden days. I like it when friends/relatives post about what they personally are doing, not memes or reposts. I follow a few internet-centric people or organizations but not what I'd call influencers - usually musicians, athletes or artists/crafters who do things I like to do, and that sort of thing.

    Most of my actual friends/relatives don't seem to reflect that toxic "better than best foot forward" fakey life stuff in their social media posts. Personally, I make it a point to post some realistic not-so-positive things about myself to avoid contributing to the fakey unreality. Examples of my posts: A lot of flowers from my garden, but also posted about a billing snafu with a local hospital kind of as a warning to others, photos of my often distinctly non-inspirational crafts projects (plus a few nice ones), weird products I saw at the store, photos from Community events I went to (mostly free ones), etc. Very little is enviable, I think, but I admit I try to be informative or interesting.

    Facebook is also one of the ways clubs and teams I'm involved in communicate, so it's important to me in that way.

    I used to follow Twitter back when it was Twitter, mainly to follow a few experts in various areas who posted well-curated examples of interesting articles on topics like neuroscience, astronomy/astrophysics and space, linguistics, and other things that are niche interests for me. It's gotten pretty toxic in the X era, so I haven't fired it up in a long time. I miss the articles, don't find as many on my own, or as good quality. I haven't sampled X alternatives like Bluesky.

    YouTube, mostly I look at one-offs, often musicians, but am subscribed to some exercise or rowing feeds.

    I have IDs/accounts on some others, but don't spend much time or attention there.

    In various places, I look at videos from certain dietitians or exercise folks I find interesting and amusing, but whom I don't technically follow or subscribe to. I guess some of them might be considered "influencers", but I don't feel like the ones I enjoy are the bad version of that, more like cranky contrarians who IMO talk good sense. (Liam Layton, Ben Carpenter, as a couple of examples.)

    Do I spend too much time? Probably, but I'd probably waste the same amount of time doing other non-useful things I don't now do, like watching TV or shopping or games or whatever. I'm good at wasting time, sadly.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 13,918 Member

    In my school days (pre-internet) I was always the social outcast, the nerd everybody wanted to sit next to during exams and otherwise shunned. When Facebook first came out I was addicted for a brief moment, but pretty soon the novelty wore off and it just lost interest for me. My account still exists, but I think I've logged in twice in the last decade, both times to look at something a family member posted.

    I watch YouTube videos as one-offs, to learn how to do a car repair or home improvement project or whatnot. My church is experimenting with trying to establish an active YT presence to attract younger people to attend service, and if even one person shows up as a result, then more power to them.

    Never created a social media account on any other platform, never saw the appeal to getting into online arguments or scrolling through endless, mindless videos and memes that only distract for a second or two at a time. I much prefer a novel or movie, something which can last uninterrupted for hours at a shot.

    And then there's MFP…spend WAAAAAY too much time on MFP. Not really when at home, as I focus on my wife and kids. But at work, whenever there's a pause between meetings, I'm back surfing. (Admittedly even during some of the boring telephone meetings where my presence is required but my input not requested.) But as much of a time sink as MFP can be, at least here I feel I can make a difference in somebody else's life, teaching people new to fitness how to navigate this wonderful world of lifting, nutrition, and more. MFP isn't perfect, but I feel it's what social media should be: people teaching people, encouraging people, celebrating people.

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,943 Member

    I'm a regular user of social media (Facebook, Threads, previously Twitter before it became a cesspit of Nazis) but I don't really consume "content".

    I used FB to stay in contact with far-flung family and friends, but mostly for the groups - community groups, a couple of Whole30 groups, and recently a younger widows group. It gives me a sense of connection. I also use it to set up events. Also, memes.

    Threads (and previously Twitter) I use for real-time news and opinion. It's a good way to keep up with what's going on in the world that isn't on the news websites. Yeah, you have to verify everything you read, but as long as you are discerning, it's a great source of info.

    I use YouTube for Yoga and how-to videos, but I don't go down rabbitholes or use it to get educated on anything.

    I use Reddit to enage in specific discussions, it's really good for finding community and information, though it can be a huge trap for getting stuck in AITA loops and reading a whole bunch of crap. It can also be pretty toxic, so I'm careful about where I engage.

    Other than those few, I am active in this community, on and off, and I miss when it was busier. I really do like the format for forums, and they're starting to fade away.

  • yakkystuff
    yakkystuff Posts: 533 Member

    I go down info rabbit holes for things, use a few online exercise vids but otherwise have never had accounts on the various sites. Referred here for the tracker, and do poke around the forums, joined a challenge, but don't really spend much time here, but can see how I could. Trying to find the balance between helpful and time burner.

  • SafariGalNYC
    SafariGalNYC Posts: 2,088 Member
    edited May 1

    I like Instagram and TikTok for fitness, travel, nature posts, health, beauty hacks..

    I like connecting with people worldwide that I wouldn’t normally speak to.

    .. I check out different points of view on Twitter and Reddit for cultural happenings . I detest Facebook with a hot passion. I don’t care what people from HS are up to.

    overall, I've found if social media posts uplift me - great… if it brings any bad vibes it’s time to go.

    I think it’s been useful.. but I hate the way everyone is on their phone nonstop in 2025 or curt/rude behind the comfort of their warrior keyboard.

    I set limits for myself and I can’t go down political rabbit holes with randos online.

    So I guess social media is a mixed bag.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,296 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48589703#Comment_48589703

    Oh, man: I forgot about NextDoor. I have an ID, look at it once in a rare while. Cesspool, train wreck, I don't know what to call it. So very much paranoia, resentment, suspicion, anger, arguing, poorly-disguised scamminess, ignorance of things from basic education, poor grammar and worse syntax (which I can easily overlook and forgive when it's not additive in specific posts to a general nastiness of spirit) . . . with a tiny dose now and then of redeeming wholesomeness, generosity and kindness.

  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,807 Member

    I only use IG - and I’m one of those people who watches dog and cat vids. And the occasional horse, donkey (insert other animals). And I watch my sport as it’s not available in many locations. For me, it’s really important I create my feed so I only see what I want as I have an obsessive personality. I follow a few good accounts which make me happy - I’m cool with that.

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 3,151 Member
    edited May 1

    I think it's all in how it is being utilized. It's just like books, magazines, tv in that it can be used mindlessly reading or watching a bunch of idiotic crap or used to learn/ for entertainment that adds to your life, emotional intelligence, and whatnot.

    I only peep on Facebook once a month or so because 1) all the suggested pages make me feel my privacy is a bit invaded and 2)the newsfeed is sort of Jekyll/Hyde like and disturbing as I have old conservative friends from when I worked in retail 25 years ago and way liberal friends from some recent jobs so it's a motley of weird political posts and random stoic quotes 😂

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,614 Member
    edited May 1

    I have a facebook account but I haven't looked at it in…years; and it's locked down so no one can see my images or even my home page. I have deleted almost all my "friends." I couldn't tell you the last time I was on fb. I used to look at the fb accounts that feature the town where I grew up. Not to get in touch with people, but to remember the old mall, the old hangouts, the layout of the streets, the beaches etc. Nostalgia stuff.

    I do get stuck in to YouTube shorts sometimes - mostly stand-up comedy and animal shorts, and I follow a few helpful channels on YouTube, but it's a cesspool too. Even the ads are cringey if I'm on a computer or phone. On the TV, much better ads (ROKU.)

    Y'all are scaring me about NextDoor, though. I mean, I know my neighbors are a little whack - not gonna join ND to find out just how bad…do you think they're being trolled just to scare people? Seems like a thing bad actors would do.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,409 Member
    edited May 1

    Nope. I don’t know what hole some of the Next Door folks crawled out of, but the nastiness and hatefulness is next level.

    I pray I don’t run into any of these whack jobs in person, especially one particularly nutty radical self proclaimed “animal/spider/roach/rats have rights, too”lover who has a really vicious holier than thou, thou evil wicked killer of insects/vermin etc attitude.

    She’d rather stomp a small child than a roach, and has proffered that her neighbors would be less missed than a single melted drop off some iceberg. Looking for a recommendation for a painter? How dare you offend the environment by cracking a can of paint. Want a squirrel humanely removed from the attic? YOU should move. The squirrel has every right to be there. Why aren’t you opening your home to the homeless?

    Everything expressed dramatically and with wishes that the original posters would drop dead

    At first it was sorta entertaining but then it turned into a train wreck. She is so vile she has single handedly taken over the Nextdoor feed for a good thirty mile radius to the point everyone else has just ditched the app.

    And then there’s the aggressive political bloviators from both sides. And the armed people, who when they see we’ve got a local “flipper” or porch pirate, are going to take care of anyone who crosses their paths. Ugh. People say stuff on Next Door they’d never ever say on Facebook.

    Nextdoor was flipping awesome when it first started. A great app. That’s the problem with most apps, the losers and the nut jobs glom on.

    What we need is an app for moderate, intelligent, reasonable folks. Maybe requiring a test or license to join, lol.

    But then that begs the question: do the crazies flock to apps, or do apps make people crazy?

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,833 Member

    I'm STILL salty I got kicked off Next Door for not using my real name. I mean, I don't miss but it but it was good for finding out what that weird noise you heard or whatever was :)

    My social media is basically twitter and tumblr. Twitter is good and bad for me. It's turned me more political because I'm hearing more about what's going on and it's pissing me off (that's the bad part really :)) but good because I've learned things like a different way to add numbers together or what a tariff is (hey, I haven't been in school in forever and I wasn't all that good at it when I WAS there) and fantasy me gets to answer fun but hard questions like which candy bar has to go or do a smash or pass a hamburger with macroni and cheese on it. (I smashed.)

    I don't really engage all that much on tumblr. I'm mostly there for news on my fandoms.

    (And I'm addicted to youtube shorts! Discovered a comedian or two from it and watched a whole bunch of Game of Thrones scenes when I never watched the show but read the books. :) And get to relive scenes from tv shows I used to like.)

    But, if I have to love youtube for anything, it's when I had a problem with the display in my car and found a couple hacks to fix it on a youtube video. I didn't have all the tools/was too scared to do it myself so I took it to my local mechanic and asked them to try the hacks for me. They were sceptical. The first hack (which was really just making sure a fuse wasn't blown or dirty) didn't pan out but the second one (rebooting the car) did.

    I love the internet :)

    So, basically, social media can be evil…and then not.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,614 Member

    @glassyo

    (And I'm addicted to youtube shorts!

    Discovered a comedian or two from it

    Lucy Darling is my new favorite. The shorts are mostly her crowdwork, but I guess she's a magician too!

  • angf0679
    angf0679 Posts: 1,369 Member

    I am addicted to social media. Addiction to social media is a very real thing. I did some research on it.

    I left Twitter (I refused to call it to the other thing) a couple months ago. I deleted Facebook off my phone, but left Messenger. I discovered though you can get on Facebook from the Messenger app. Wish I never had. I need to stop pressing that little "f" that takes me there.

    I get on there and "dooms day" scroll. When 98% of what I see is nothing but adds. I also do the same with the video shorts. I have gotten out of the habit of setting a time limit on my computer when I go on. I need to go back on doing that.

    I also need to turn the auto-play for the next video back off on YouTube back off on my TV, and only let myself turn the TV on when I have nothing else to do. (Unless it's a Blue Jays game!) Though when the TV is on, I am usually doing something else. I don't often turn on my TV and just sit there and watch it.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member

    It's just this side of the devil.

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,455 Member

    I like Facebook.

    Groups and clubs I am in communicate to their members via it and I like seeing posts by family and friends

    I dont find most people post about their suppossed perfection - they post, as do I, about things that are important to them, sometimes a life event (wedding photos or new baby ) or a personal achievement (yay! beat my PB in 5km run today!) or just a nice photo (Nice weather for walking the dog today)

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,629 Member
    edited May 6

    It's like living in a blade runner cyberpunk dystopia where technology has reshaped society, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. Algorithms act as digital overlords, influencers as modern replicants shaping culture, and misinformation lurks like neon lit shadows, or the wild west where unregulated spaces allow for chaos, conflict, and rapid expansion. It’s full of pioneers, outlaws, and power struggles. It's a wonderful space you just need to keep your head in the right place and pick your battles and discard the rest. I mostly connect with X or Instagram for social media.

    I'm really enjoying the world of geopolitics, nutrition and paleoanthropology, and I do admit I haven't watched network TV with a few exceptions, sports mostly for at least 5 years and glad that is something in my past. I do however watch TV series but on other platforms without the commercials and when I do I generally bin watch and recently it was the whole Yellowstone series but considering I never watch it to begin with (because commercials) I started with 1883, then 1923 and finished with Yellowstone. Also I just bin watch the series called "American Primeval" with Shea Whigham which I think is a great actor and the reason mostly why I watched it, and it didn't disappoint.

  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,393 Member
    edited May 7

    Let me preface this by saying that I'm of an age where "social media" didn't even exist until I was in my 30s.

    I couldn't get into Facebook at all although I do still have a profile. It seemed boring and pointless to me. I think I have about 36 friends and only really care to look at stuff posted by two of them because they're both far away. But my friends are tame and boring like me and don't post the typical "look at me!" stuff.

    I think my formerly-Twitter account may have gone dormant from non-use. I never got into TikTok even though a friend sometimes sent me links to very funny stuff on there.

    Instagram I kinda like. I follow local small businesses and dog rescues to support them, occasionally I get some good ideas out of it. Like following a seafood store gave me some gift ideas for my dad recently. I also follow quite a few fitness-oriented profiles, heavily weighted toward female accounts and particularly older women. And corgi profiles of course.

    In fact, I have two Instagram profiles, one for me and one I created for my dog.

    Overall, I'd have to say social media can be both good and bad. I think it largely depends on how the person consumes it, which can be said of anything on the internet. I have a good friend who got completely sucked into the conspiracy theory world without ever viewing social media, I think it was mainly forums and message boards.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,409 Member

    I have a good friend who got completely sucked into the conspiracy theory world without ever viewing social media, I think it was mainly forums and message boards.

    in my mind, those are forms of social media.

    My FB account was populated by neighbors, since I only opened it to to run the neighborhood communications, along with a newsletter I emailed out weekly. Small neighborhood, comfortably off empty-nesters for the most part.

    Just seemed like it was a constant game of one upsmanship and curated photos with these folks. I don’t roll like that. Take me as you get me, or leave me TF alone. 🙃

    I found it dreary and depressing and felt like my life was lacking, based on their posts and photos, til it occurred to me, I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone. I’m perfectly happy taking my own toad…..errrr……road. And that’s when I handed off the job and haven’t looked at FB in several years.

    Think as I think," said a man, "or you are abominably wicked; you are a toad." And after I thought of it, I said, "I will, then, be a toad.

    ~ Stephen Crane

  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,393 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48599789#Comment_48599789

    Ach, you're probably right. I think of social media as the here's my profile, look at photos of me type of thing. But posting to a message board is a form of social interaction just the same.

    I forgot NextDoor. I joined, in an uncharacteristic hiccup of neighbourly warmth, and I've never been back on it. I get notifications about posts but 90% of them are for neighbourhoods that are nowhere near mine, let alone "next door".

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