I do not have much social media consumption. I actually left Facebook more than a decade ago, and I do not have Tiktok nor Instagram. I am not glued to my smartphone. So one day, I wanted to test this decision of mine, whether my feelings have changed. It turns out it hasn't.
I tested this via WhatsApp. I do have WhatsApp, but as it is connected to Meta, I do not find it as my primary chat application. I am only using WhatsApp to the extent that some people I want to remain connected with use this app, e.g. some family members. Anyway it seems that WhatsApp has a Status function. Users can upload an image and have it visible to their connections for a limited amount of time, which I believe is 24 hours. I tried it. I selected an innocent-yet-funny picture I took some time in the recent past, and uploaded it, together with a single-sentence message.
At some point I got some KPIs. I learned that several of my connections have seen it. That was not surprising per se. What I found more surprising is that there are others who also saw it. These are people who are indeed in my address book, but practically speaking, I am not close to these people at all. And now, these people - who for all intents and purposes are strangers to me - now know a little part of me. In this case, they have received a snippet of my humour.
And perhaps this is what I find disturbing. Through social media, we seem to be connected to each other. But this connection is so superficial that it's practically nothing. And as someone who has a strong sense of boundaries when it comes to what I disclose versus what I keep for myself, then this is definitely a disturbing aspect.
I think this reinforces to me my decision to not be in social media. I do not need to provide updates to the void, so to speak. I want to make meaningful connections, and I prioritise quality over quantity definitely. I might have a smaller circle of people I know, yet these people I am definitely connected in real life, and I do not mind providing updates to these people. The Status function of WhatsApp was an interesting test, and most likely I won't use it again.
