But What If I Don’t Want To Be On Social Media?

Everywhere I turn, it seems the world is shouting: Connect! Share! Update! There’s this pervasive urgency, a collective insistence, that I need to be on every platform, engaged in every conversation. But here’s my quiet confession: what if I don’t want to be on social media?

When I was younger, connecting with someone meant writing letters — long, heartfelt, ink-on-paper letters. Or sometimes, it meant hours-long phone calls, our words dancing on the delicate line of a telephone wire. But now? Now, it feels as if relationships are maintained in 280 characters or less. It’s as though the profundity of human connection has been reduced to fleeting ‘stories’ that vanish in 24 hours. The world around me buzzes with notifications, but I can’t help but yearn for the beauty of silence.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the appeal. There’s the lure of instant connection, the thrill of virality, the validation that comes from likes, shares, and retweets. But for every high, there’s a corresponding low: the comparison, the FOMO, the underlying sense of never quite being enough in a world that constantly broadcasts a curated version of perfection.

Every time I try to articulate this sentiment, I’m met with baffled expressions. “It’s networking,” they say, or “It’s just the way the world works now.” They speak of algorithms, engagement rates, and brand presence. And while I grasp the implications, part of me still wonders: at what cost?

There was a time I tried to fit into this mold. I curated my feeds, tracked my metrics, engaged with every comment. But as the days blurred into a homogenous stream of posts and updates, I realized I was losing something invaluable: my sense of self. My experiences began to be viewed through the lens of potential content. Would this picture get enough likes? Would this story resonate with my followers?

But what if the essence of my life, its purest joys and deepest sorrows, can’t be encapsulated in a post or a tweet? What if, by constantly broadcasting my life, I’m missing out on truly living it?

I miss the days when memories were something to be cherished, not showcased. When moments were felt deeply, not just photographed perfectly. The serendipity of bumping into an old friend. The feeling of reading a book under a tree, uninterrupted by the need to share a quote online.

There’s an authenticity in simply living, unobserved and unfiltered. A freedom in knowing that not every moment needs validation to be meaningful. That our worth isn’t determined by follower counts or engagement rates.

So, I’ve begun to step back, to disconnect from the virtual and reconnect with the tangible. To find joy not in the buzz of notifications, but in the gentle rustling of leaves, the warmth of a hand-held, the unscripted laughter shared with a loved one.

It’s not a renunciation but a reclamation. A journey back to a self that existed before metrics and filters. A reminder that while the world may be on social media, life — in its rawest, purest form — happens off the screen.

So, if you ever wonder why my online presence is sparse or why I don’t always ‘like’ your posts, know that it’s not indifference. It’s just a quiet choice to seek depth over breadth, authenticity over popularity. Because while the world may be online, my heart, for now, is taking a different path.