A DDOS on the Brain

I’ve finished work and I’m thinking about what I could write about.

The big news today is that Elon Musk is rebranding Twitter to X. Indeed, he’s got X.com which is a very sought after domain name. I suppose that shouldn’t be too surprising since he’s one of the world’s richest men.

At the same time it looks like Meta’s Threads is looking to cash in on dissatisfaction users might be having over Twitter.

I’ve used Twitter and I use Facebook too. It’s not something that makes me rejoice though. There’s a lot of contention and arguing on Twitter, and I don’t exactly find the Facebook experience fulfilling either.

I don’t particularly like social media the way it’s turned out. So many people and organisations fighting for your attention is a lot to process. You might think you’re ignoring most of it, but at some level you are reacting to it. That controversial take, that ‘insta-perfect’ photo, that ad for whatever. It increases the complexity of life and I think it’s made it harder.

I think it’s made managing mental health more difficult. At best, you consume something kind of interesting alongside a million items of rubbish, and at worst it’s a total DDOS on the brain.

The problem is, it’s so easy to use. Why would I go on Facebook or Reddit? Basically because it’s there! Because it’s become easier than doing nothing. Somehow I can’t abide doing nothing!

I’m thinking back to my childhood - we were late adopters of the internet. We didn’t have it at home until I was in my later teens. What did I do before it? I think I watched TV, whatever was on, even if it wasn’t that exciting. I read books too, even less exciting ones. I had a games console which I played often, but the games back then had more of a beginning and an end. I tried learning the guitar using guitar tabs I printed at school. I’m sure I must have sat around and talked to my family as well.

When we did get the internet, social media was MSN messenger - chatting to people I knew. I have fond memories of that.

When did it all change?

The truth is, I love technology and I enjoy using it to connect with people and do cool things. But it’s harder than it used to be. I don’t think there’s any going back to how I remember it, but I think it is important to show some self leadership and self regulate how I use it.

How to do that is not a question I have the answers to. But it’s something that’s important to me and that I want to work on.