Some of us are crazy, some of us have lost touch with reality, most of us think we’re OK but we’re not and all of us think we can’t leave because we can’t survive outside the hospital.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      12·
      6 days ago

      Almost made it years ago … I’m a recovered alcoholic and one of my recovery options was to be admitted into a facility but I wasn’t that far gone yet so I was able to go through lighter treatment services and go through the 12 step program instead … that was over 30 years ago and these days I feel like I’m edging towards losing my sanity again every day.

      I only made the comparison of social media to a mental hospital because just about every day I see more and more deluded realities than ever before. At one end, I have my younger relatives (under 30 years of age) living some kind of weird online life that they try to emulate like a k-pop reality show, a soap opera or a comedy show with a laugh track (meanwhile their real life situation is anything but) … and at the other end, I have older relatives (over 50 years of age) who only ever want to be angry, afraid or semi or fully racist or fascist (when in real life their lives are good peaceful and they would never be openly racist or fascist, or show any support for it!). People keep telling me that maybe it’s just the quality of people I am around … but I look into other social media feeds with family who live in the cities down south, the rural areas, the northern remote areas or the busy suburban areas and its almost all universally the same. And I know a variety of people … poor trailer trash types, northern poor people, native families living on reserves … as well as middle class white people living in cities, upwardly mobile professionals, teachers, office workers, government workers, a few medical doctors and nurses and even a couple of millionaires who live in the city.

      I should also clarify that these observations are all about corporately owned social media … and yes I know that they are heavily influenced and managed to be like this … but still, it feels so overwhelming that at one point, it does feel like being trapped in some kind of institution. Sure I can leave but all or most of my family and friends are in there. Most of the people I know are not technically savvy or interested and they just prefer being on FB, IG or TikTok or even X … and whenever I do see them there, I feel like I’m visiting the FB Ward or the TikTok Ward of a giant facility full of deluded people.

      • jeffw@lemmy.world
        21·
        6 days ago

        I think the funniest part is you think corporate ownership somehow makes social media worse

  • silly_goose@lemmy.todayEnglish
    3·
    6 days ago

    Nah. Most get better in a psychiatric hospital and leave. Social media just amplifies your insanity (or sanity).