By Anna Reinalda | Posted January 30, 2025
I first came to social media when I was 11 years old. It was a MySpace account I hoped to use to stay connected with friends from summer camp. From there, I built a presence on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram — back when they really were just feeds of friends’ publications.
What started as a fun platform to share thoughts and photos from my life, and to see what my loved ones were up to, has transformed into this incredibly ugly alternate universe where untold horrors await.
Anna Reinalda of Rocky Hill, signing off social media for now.
Today’s social and political landscapes are ruled by rampant, unregulated misinformation across all social media platforms. False claims ranging from fitness tips to fabricated ideal lifestyles to conspiracy theories pervade our timelines, and the overarching effect is a climate of division and intolerance.
As a politically aware individual, I yearn for the days when I could calmly discuss differing ideologies with friends and strangers alike. But social media, where people ridicule and attack each other from behind the veil of a screen, has robbed us of such a luxury.
We no longer seek common ground, but instead look for ways to prove ourselves right, and deem our opposers senseless idiots. The Internet is not a place where healthy conversations are born.
Through social media, I’ve caught wind of pop-up shows by my favorite musicians, cheered my friends on through their accomplishments and difficulties, and learned some new skills. It was also the avenue by which I was victimized by three child predators who committed what I now know to be sex crimes against me.
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Since then, it has dissolved into a dopamine addiction trap, deliberately designed to keep us attached to our phones at the expense of our hobbies, families, goals, and mental health. I’ve been holding onto these accounts because they store almost two decades of memories, and I continue to find useful and engaging content daily. But the benefits do not outweigh the costs by a long shot, and it’s time to put this away for a while.
I hope to use the coming months to reset, and engage with the world deliberately, not reactively. Please consider this an invitation to evaluate your own relationship with not just social media, but technology in general. What things did you do in 2005 that you don’t anymore? How many times today did you send a quick text, then end up neck-deep in an hourlong doomscroll? When were you last bored?
If you find yourself resistant to the idea of kicking social media, you probably need a break. Love and luck to all, and happy New Year. (P.S. I’m not deleting my accounts, just removing social media apps from my phone. I’ll probably check in once in a while, on a computer.)
Anna Reinalda graduated from Montgomery High School and is enrolled in the Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program at The College of New Jersey. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from The College of New Jersey. To comment on this topic, email editor@themontynews.com.
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