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[strifeforworth]

Learning to use social media again

I've noticed lately that despite the day and age I find myself living in, I still have a frustrating aversion to participating on most social media platforms. Yes, I have facebook, and an instagram. But both of these are barely touched.

Spending my formative teenage years in rural countryside meant that I had limited access to internet, and the internet we could get was only DSL broadband on decades-old copper telephone wiring. I didn't see fibre broadband until I moved into my girlfriends house in a slightly more modern suburbia.

At the time I was in highschool and played it off in a hippy-like way. To save myself from the embarrassment of having to explain to classmates that my family lived like that, I said that I just preferred to interact with people in real life as opposed to online on social media platforms. Which is weird because over time I've started to believe it myself too.

I have realized lately that it isn't so much social media itself that I disliked, it is more the fake influencer clout culture that has slowly grown from it. When some online influencers do charitable things to help the poor or homeless, but when they record and then upload these charitable acts it mostly rings of clout-chasing.

I still kinda get flashes of that insincerity whenever it's my birthday. If people weren't being specifically reminded of my birthday by an app, how many of them would even really remember. For years I've blatantly ignored birthday notifications on FB and directly messaged my close friends and family on their birthdays, as this truly feels more sincere to me than any long-winded FB post on my wall.

As a newly transitioning trans woman, I really do want to start using social media more. I want to try my hardest to stay true to myself and be real and I want people who eventually follow or friend me to put value in my sincerity. There is too much bad in this world and I want to uplift those around me.