The damage that online social media can do to you is becoming apparent

[CoffeyN]

46 is a lot of likes though.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by CoffeyN

46 is a lot of likes though.

haha, true it is, I only get 46 likes when I talk about surviving cancer.

but then a couple of teen girls in bikinis on instagram or whatever, probably half those likes were from grown men looking to hook up with a teen, so.....

BTW - we did find out later that was happening too, she was hooking up with random men via online social when we thought she was going to the park

[studbucket]

ugh, that's so awful. Sorry for her ODogg, and for what you had to go through.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

ugh, that's so awful. Sorry for her ODogg, and for what you had to go through.

Thanks man, yeah it was a terrible 8 months of my life. It didn't help that CPS threw us overboard because I complained about them to the state. They used the girls issues to come up with a termination plan against us. We tried lawyers and everything, no one would take the case against CPS.

So we just decided to not worry about it and enjoy a child free life.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by CoffeyN

46 is a lot of likes though.

Whoa! 46? I once posted a picture of my cats and got like 10 likes and thought that was awesome.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

Whoa! 46? I once posted a picture of my cats and got like 10 likes and thought that was awesome.

us older guys are hip to be square I suppose, as huey used to sing LOL

[MistaWartown]

Quote: Originally Posted by oneamongthefence

But he's our hero...he's gonna take pollution down to zero. Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

:Bad guy kicks some sand in Captain Planets direction:

Captain Planet: "AHHH.......TOXINS"

:Captain Planet is out of commission the rest of the episode:

[JoshC1977]

My story with social media wasn't so much dealing with the "addiction" but dealing with the consequences of the inherent toxicity of it.

I joined Facebook many moons ago; merely as a way of connecting to old college friends. Never really did much with it (thankfully).

But I did join Twitter a few years ago and over time, ramped-up my usage of it. Most of the stuff I followed was gaming (and specifically, sports gaming related). I also was heavily engaged on Twitch (which I also consider to be a "social media").

In 2021 I was becoming increasingly frustrated with Twitter. Basically, every time I logged-on to peruse my timeline, I was getting upset, annoyed or just downright angry. My mind would dwell on responses and on ways of addressing things - allowing the negativity to fester even more. Then the #FixMaddenFranchise thing happened and I saw good people morph into low-life lemmings. Many accounts were blocked during this time...and remain blocked to this day.

Later that year and into early 2022, I finally said that enough was enough. Folks were trying the same hashtag crap with MLB The Show (fortunately, it did not gain traction) and my Twitter timeline was again a cesspool. At the same time, an event occurred related to my job where my company was dealing with the spread of lies, anger, and misinformation on social media - the sheer amount of time wasted in dealing with it....ugh.

With that experience on the flip-side, the level of frustration/anger I had nearly every time I logged-on to Twitter became palpable and I knew I had to do something for myself. I began unfollowing numerous accounts, began blocking VERY liberally and began the process of clearing my timeline. I stopped following even official game accounts because of the temptation to read the replies (in spite of knowing what a cesspool they were).

My evolution on Twitch went down a different path. I used to love watching sports gaming on Twitch. But even with good communities, the toxicity got worse and worse. The sheer volume of "Look at me" and outright troll posts in chat (which would often force the streamer to deal with it - so yes, the disable chat feature did not help) just blew-up. So, again in 2021, I began a process of culling-out sports gaming streamers (unfollowing every one of those channels). Interestingly, what really pushed me was that at the same time, I was getting heavy into Twitch Music streams...and my goodness, the vibe was SO much better. Once I culled-out the sports gaming channels, Twitch became a much happier place for me (and actually helped me get through a tough time in my life - music does indeed soothe the soul).

These days, I'm much happier with my social media interactions. I have pruned it to a place where I get what I want and don't get upset every time i log-in.