Just found out about @ChrisDStedman & his new book IRL via a moving @HuffPost story about his dog Tuna. As someone who doesn't use FB, IG, WhatsApp, LinkedIn or even dates online, I look forward to read it to see if it changes my mind about social media:

I generally don't use social media because it always felt to me like it requires a level of performance & fakeness that I don't want to play into. People avoid you if you share sad news, they dismiss you if you're not "cool" or "interesting" enough.

You have to project an attractive lifestyle and I fucking hate that. It's why I left. It affected my mental health. Equally so, I have serious concerns about privacy. I know lots of people who regularly like each other's posts but never reach out to each other IRL.They refuse to.

Most of my closest friends live abroad, and would rather I text them on their birthday when I prefer calling, because it's more intimate, more personal. Some people act like not sharing news of their personal lives online, is as if it didn't happen. Maybe they're right.

I never understood why for example, people wish happy mother's day to their mom on social media with a picture of her, when they're mom is not even on social media, and they know they will call her on that day. It is for the likes? Virtue signalling? For some, I think so.

I got upset at my mom one year for doing exactly that. We're under the same fucking roof, and she posted a picture of me on my birthday with a loving message, then texted me the screenshot because I'm not on social media. Why?! I'm right fucking here. You already wished me HBD.

You can definitely pay a heavy price for not being active online. It can be very isolating. You absolutely get FOMO. But I find such relief in not having to play the game of performing, of trying to get people to like me. It's already hard enough IRL.