Since its inception, I have never been a fan of social media for numerous reasons.

• First, I found it so odd that one would want to publicize the details of one’s life, whether what they ate, what they did, where they went, or with whom, and share it openly online.
• Second, its negative impact on people’s minds, lives, and our human society as a whole seemed obvious from the start. What is posted on social media is not real life but an exaggerated, usually very skewed, reality taken out of context.
• Third, social media does not align with or support what it means to be a fully functioning and physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually healthy human being.
• Fourth, I found it disturbing that personal information shared on social media is collected, stored, and routinely misused by companies or third parties for purposes beyond the user’s control or awareness, raising significant privacy concerns.

As such, I was very reluctant to open any social media accounts. However, for professional reasons, as part of being an online teacher and writer, it became apparent early on that having a social media presence seemed necessary for the role. So I joined Facebook in 2008, Twitter (X) in 2009, and held off on Instagram until 2018. Over the years, I cycled through periods of active and inactive social media use. However, from 2015 onward, I started reducing my online presence to the point that I stopped using Facebook in 2018, and X and Instagram in 2020, after seeing the madness that took over humanity this year. Before shutting things down, I reviewed my social media use and went through many of my old posts. Even though I only used social media for teaching, it was disheartening to see how much of my time, energy, and life went into posting and interacting there. It confirmed everything I have been feeling over the years, including the deep desire not to be there and the drain and depletion that comes from virtual interactions, most with strangers, that have very little meaning and value. It always felt like a preschool where all the children were trying to be seen and heard, competing for the teacher’s attention.

While many of my posts, according to direct feedback, have positively impacted people’s lives, most became content noise and fillers - typical posts made just for the sake of posting, often followed by obligatory reactions and interactions. This was draining my mental and emotional energy, and it did not feel like an effective way to teach or interact with others in meaningful ways. More discouraging was seeing the same individuals - both experts and laypeople - continuously share the same struggles, stories, and grievances over the years without any resulting learning, understanding, or finding any resolution, despite having access to all the info and advice one could ever want or need in the deep sea of social media voices. Some people convince themselves that social media and the community, advice, and collaboration that happens there help them. However, what I saw after interacting with thousands of people over about a decade was not like that at all. I saw an echo chamber where people look for others to hear them out and validate whatever victimhood story or Ego identity they are absorbed in. There is simply no comparison or replacement for real, in-person, meaningful human interactions.

The Social Media Deception

It’s remarkable how powerfully social media convinces people they need to use it—or risk missing out personally and professionally.

• Professionally, entrepreneurs and business owners are conditioned to believe that using social media is essential to avoid irrelevance, market themselves, and secure business opportunities.
• Personally, for leisure, information, or entertainment, people are made to feel that they will be missing out on knowing what their friends, family, celebrities, and politicians are up to. By not being on social media, you may be seen as uninformed or not part of the “it crowd.”

This results in billions of people worldwide, all convinced that being on social media is the normal part of life these days, when it does not need to be this way. While people are quick to attack the creators of social media for the destructive products they have created, the truth is that we have all made social media what it is by giving it our consent and participation.

For the past decade, people have used social media to do everything literally. We use it to vent our political views, get health advice, buy and sell stuff, find dates and mates, register for events, play games, and get updates on the weather, news, and you name it. Social media is used when we need to laugh, cry, be angry, and express whatever we want to express. There is no doubt that social media has played some positive roles, such as reconnecting old friends and family members who want to stay in touch and helping find lost children, adults, and pets. However, it is fair to say that social media has caused more harm than good, as evidenced across all metrics and in light of our resulting human condition. Here are just some of the big negative impacts of social media on our humanity and our society.

• Division and polarization have reached unprecedented levels, unlike anything we’ve seen before.
• Not only has it amplified outrage, but it has also caused emotional reactivity to spiral out of control.
• It increased bullying, harassment, extortion, and coercion of individual people and groups.
• It emboldened and enabled child abuse, human trafficking, and sex trafficking.
• It has brought people together for violent, fraudulent, and destructive purposes.
• It has interfered with elections across the world and made a mockery of what we still call democracy.
• It feeds on people’s weaknesses, addictions, and insecurities and amplifies them.
• It has caused people to have narrower perspectives than ever, to the point that most people are no longer capable of higher-order or critical thinking.
• It diminished cordial, respectful, and kind opposing views and dialogues.
• It has numbed us and dumbed us down severely. Blind groupthink, cult-like behavior, and popularity-driven persuasion have infiltrated most people’s ability to think for themselves.

A Mind Virus of Fear Takes Over the World

The year 2020 has been instrumental in showing the dire state of the human mind, and social media has played a significant role in that. Most people have lost all reason, logic, and the ability to think for themselves. Being told what to do by others is no longer the default; it is actively sought as a source of comfort and security, rather than thinking for oneself and taking responsibility for one’s choices. The strong conditioning to live in fear has overwhelmed people’s desire to live freely.

Our most prized and precious commodity - our mind - has been so overwhelmed and distracted that it has been completely hijacked. To get it back, it is not ‘more’ information or education that is needed now, but ‘less’. We’ve become overloaded with information to the point that most people don’t know what or who to believe anymore, and sadly, live in the illusions projected upon them by others, which grossly distort actual reality. The way to regain clarity of mind is to remove distractions, look within, purge the mental garbage you’ve accumulated, and learn to use your own guidance system.

For these additional reasons, I have decided to stop using social media completely going forward. I do not want to be yet another source that distracts you from the reality you need to deal with. Instead of me posting images and posts about healthy meals, health and nutrition tips, nature, wisdom, and spiritual messages, I wish for you to spend your time making your own meals, spending your own time in nature, creating your life mindfully, and discovering your own wisdom.

While I wish to help others improve their health and wellbeing to live a higher quality of life, I am not the one that needs or wants your attention to be a happy or fulfilled human being. Your body, your mind, your life, and your freedoms need your attention. Likewise, I don’t want to waste my own life on social media either. I value my life too much, specifically life in the real world, to continue playing this social media game of mental sabotage and social deception. I have seen how much of it I have already wasted over the years, how much it has drained me mentally, emotionally, and energetically, and for no good-enough reasons.

This is why my message to myself and to you on the last day of this very psychologically- and socially-disturbing year is that life is for living. Live fully, live authentically, and live courageously. Live in the real world, not in the illusions and delusions of the media and social media. That is, of course, if you want to be a happy, healthy, and free human being. Otherwise, keep doing what you are doing.

Sending you best wishes for the new year and beyond. May you make the most of it and your life.