Lately, we’re observing a growing trend of unnecessary, dramatic declarations from various people, including domestic and international (sub)celebrities, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, who suddenly decide to announce their social media hiatus due to exhaustion. Ironically, these announcements often come in the form of social media posts, inadvertently adding to the fatigue of both themselves and us, the unwilling audience drawn into their narrative.
But let’s overlook the tragic paradox of their actions for a minute and focus on the fact that Social Media Burnout is a real and universal issue. Feeling exhausted is entirely normal, especially considering that, in addition to utility accounts like electricity, water, Netflix, and the internet, we also have accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and even Threads, whose 15 minutes of fame, sadly, have irretrievably expired. I’m not even counting messaging apps like Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and all the various dating apps because, not being a centipede, I’ve run out of fingers to count on.
Partly, the fatigue is caused by the constant pressure to constantly post something; otherwise, the Algorithm (with a capital A, because it’s our new God and must be respected!) will forget us, and we’ll end up dying alone… which might actually be the case.
For example, best practices for TikTok creators recommend posting at least three videos daily so that the platform will “favor” them and show their content to a broader audience. Whoever doesn’t comply might as well stop people on the street and force them to watch their videos.
The constant onslaught of advertisements, along with the absence of content from our friends—whether it’s due to their inactivity, the algorithm’s filtering, or simply because we don’t have any friends— is gradually ruining our social media experience by the day.
Inevitably, at some point, while scrolling, we’ll have a moment of sobriety where we’ll think to ourselves, “What nonsense am I watching?” Then, undeterred, we’ll continue to scroll with fervor as if we’re following through on an electronic religious pact.
At the same time, more and more well-being apps (such as One Sec, Moment, etc.) are popping up as we indulge in endless doom-scrolling, promising to rescue us from our addicted selves. But lo and behold, the 7-day free trial ends quickly, and after rushing to unsubscribe just in time before our card gets charged, we scramble to psychologists, sit cross-legged like meditating insects, and talk about how terrible we feel about ourselves, how many hours we don’t sleep at night because of TikTok, and how little motivation we have to do things, while our screen time flirts with surpassing an average of 11 hours per day.
How feasible does it feel nowadays to muster the will to press the buttons needed to enter the fantastic world of ‘offline is the new luxury’ for an hour/day/month/year without experiencing paralyzing FOMO or contending with the fear that your friends and acquaintances will assume you’ve suddenly passed away, when in reality, you’re holed up in your antisocial cave somewhere in your own personal Siberia, potentially leading them to erase you from their lives or, even worse, from social media?
To our overwhelming fatigue, we can now add our dwindling attention span*, which is currently sinking below 8 seconds. Despite our incapacity – don’t even think that I’m going to mention us attempting to read a book – to sit through a 20-minute TV episode without reaching for our phones roughly 20 times, we still have the audacity to pass critique with an air of self-importance as if we’ve just returned from the Cannes Film Festival (in our dreams). “Well, actually, I didn’t like it. I was bored,” we pompously declare. Frankly, I’m bored of all of us.
That’s what he said before wasting the next three hours on Threads.
*A “short attention span” is a common issue for many of us these days. We find ourselves unable to sustain focus on a particular activity, task, or person for an extended period. This notably impacts productivity, daily functioning, and our reputation.
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