Why I've Given Up Social Media

31st December 2023, I was watching the New Year’s Eve countdown, live from London on TV.  10 seconds until midnight and the fireworks were just about to shoot straight from the London Eye, and surrounding structures.

The camera zooms over the heads of everyone that showed up to see the event in person.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of people are standing and waiting for the sky to light up.  A huge feeling of disgust, disappointment and almost anger came over me when I saw the images of the people there.  Why?

Of the massive crowd, I would guess that less than 10% of them did not have their phone in their hands, filming the upcoming spectacle.  

On the one hand, I sort of understand - it’s a big event and they probably won’t be there again to see it, so they must film it to remember.  However, the event was being filmed by more than one professional camera crew, with much better skills and equipment than anyone else there.

There were 2 main reasons for me feeling this way towards everyone there though.  

Firstly, those people may have paid a fee to enter the area they were in for the spectacle in person.  But have decided to watch the entire show through a 6 inch screen that they are holding in front of their face, meanwhile, having to keep perfectly still in order to capture it.

Secondly, I couldn’t quite understand why they were filming it.  I don’t believe for a second it would be for the ‘memories’, as they will most likely never watch it again.  How many pictures and videos do we take only to forget we’ve taken them and never see them again?  At most, we’ll stumble across them at some point and say ‘oh yeah, remember that?’.  That’s about it.

My expectation would be to find their recording of the event on their social media pages explaining that it was ‘such a memorable night’ trying to subtly brag that they were there.  In reality, people don’t tend to care.  

In 2023, I discovered a new term.  I’ve no idea if it is new, but it certainly was to me when my wife described a girl as a ‘pick me girl’.  Since understanding the meaning of it, I can’t help think that everyone paying entry to something like this and posting it online to anyone that will listen is in fact a ‘pick me’ person.

This was my 4th thought in the last 5 months to stop caring what people, that have no real connection to me, think.  I don’t have to show you what I’m doing or where I’ve been.  The people that I genuinely want to share this information with, I’ll tell them myself.