When they created the app, it was no small decision to call everyone on the app “followers.” not friends, supporters, community members…but followers.
I’m 32 and recently had this eerie realization that basically my entire adult life since I was 18 up to this point has been plugged into this social media system… rising and falling with its algorithms, chasing it’s blue checks and validations through comments, shares, and engagements. I realized by this point I have seen enough celebrity news, pets, people’s brunches, and thirst traps to last me a few lifetimes… and that the last decade or so has more or less been the same exact content on repeat, just with a slightly different look.
They call us “followers” - and we act accordingly… each day giving away precious time, energy and attention to these influencers, brands, and agendas - all of them having no idea you even exist. They found a way into our psychology and ultimately to our pockets… embedded in our very lives. And now we are afraid to live without it.
I’m having an awakening. I am finding out who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing with my time here. Ultimately I found myself fumbling through “content” only to realize that I had seen all of it before, and that I had been seeing the same thing over and over again for almost a third of my life so far… and that led me to finally ask…ok, if I am to follow you, then where the hell are we going?
Last year I went to get some tattoo work done in Taiwan, and while I cherish the tattoo I received probably the most important thing from that experience was what the tattoo artist told me - As I continued to ask questions about the tattoo process and what was right and wrong with everything… he stopped me and just told me…
“life is your teacher now.”
In the end there is nothing that a government leader, influencer, guru, self-help master, monk or clergy could tell you that cannot be learned by taking an intentional and honest look at how things work around us.
I am accepting that I am no follower. I have no interest in following. I was never meant to follow. I want to explore and discover life on my terms, and I want the freedom of my time, mind, and thoughts… so much of which is very quietly and siphoned off right from under my nose in the name of “staying relevant.”
If this hurt anyone out there I understand, but in the end if our relationship requires that we follow each other on social media… I wonder if we have a real relationship at all. I’m continuing my quest of finding the truth in this lifetime, and I’m almost positive it’s not gonna be found in pictures of sushi and updates of who Ryan Reynolds was seen with last night.
come and fine me in real life, we can have a meaningful time. I hope to see you there.