Bloody hell, here we are. A few years into this social media thing and I’m already questioning where it’s all headed.
I’ve been watching this Facebook stuff for a while now. Joined it several years back, mostly to see what the fuss was about. Still don’t get it, if I’m honest.
People would rather sit behind a computer screen typing… well, mostly bollocks, really. I don’t understand the appeal.
But there’s this trend that’s been picking up. These things people are calling “memes”. Apparently that’s what we’re doing now. Sharing inspirational quotes and motivational rubbish wrapped up in a picture. One of the popular ones going round says, “you’re not broken.”
Which is… interesting. Because I never said I was broken. Never thought of myself in those terms. But now that some random meme has brought it up, I’m thinking, hang on, maybe I am a bit broken? Cheers for that.
It’s a weird thing, isn’t it? Before someone tells you you’re not something, you probably weren’t worried about being that thing in the first place. But once it’s out there, once someone’s felt the need to reassure you, well, the doubt creeps in.
Look, I get it. Some people do feel broken.
I often feel a little bit broken myself, though I wouldn’t have used that word until someone else shoved it in my face. If someone’s feeling depressed or anxious, genuinely struggling, are motivational memes really the answer? Is typing “you’re not broken” into a text box over a sunset photo actually helping anyone?
I suppose my issue is this: we’re creating a world where people perform their support, their care, their wisdom. It’s all surface. All for show. We’re not actually talking to each other anymore. We’re broadcasting at each other, hoping someone clicks “like” to validate us.
Where’s this going in ten, twenty years?
We’re only a few years into Facebook and already I’m not sure I like what I’m seeing. People curating perfect lives, sharing empty platitudes, and replacing actual conversation with these bloody memes.
Maybe I’m being harsh. Perhaps there’s value in it that I’m missing. But right now, watching this unfold, I dread to think what social media will look like when it really gets its hooks into us.
About this blog post: This is one of many fleshed-out versions of notes I scribbled down years ago. Thoughts about the internet, mental health, and whatever else was bouncing around my head at the time. Some go back decades, to when I first started writing things down that weren’t meant for anyone else. Rough in places, occasionally uncomfortable, and very much real. That’s the point.
Look, 2010 feels like yesterday and also a lifetime ago. I wrote this when Facebook was still finding its feet, when “meme” was a word most people couldn’t spell, and when the idea of living our entire lives online seemed vaguely dystopian rather than inevitable.
I’m still here. You’re still here.
We’ve watched this thing grow into something none of us really predicted, and we’re still trying to work out what it means for us. If you read this and thought, “yeah, I remember when it felt simpler,” then you’re not alone. And if you’re here reading it now, you’ve made it through everything that came after 2010. That’s worth something.