I enjoy social media in moderation. It’s wonderful connecting with people like those I’ve known many years and those I only know through the digital realm…. but you need to understand that the digital world doesn’t MATTER, it’s illusory.
The digital is dead, it only has the life we bring it. Bots reinforce its inability to function without the human pulse. Fact checkers and weird ChatGPT images prove that this thing is lacking on quality input as a whole.
Nothing and no one matters as much as those in your direct REALity that you can tangibly interact with in person.
I think we all intrinsically know this which is why even those with the most restraint lose their cool sometimes on these platforms… because we’re never going to have to face those folks in the face. Who cares…let the haters hate, but what I like about Substack is the ability to disagree in meaningful exchanges versus curmudgeon’ish rants to expel anger and energy wastefully.
During the more obvious times of censorship in 2020 – 2021 my Facebook received many strikes, warnings, deletions. I didn’t post anything too outlandish, nor that wasn’t true to the best of my knowledge, yet voices against the agenda were not allowed.
It was during this time I began to realize that we’ve always been censored on the interwebs since it was created.
I was in China on a business trip long before the scam-demic started to which I couldn’t use the hotel Wi-Fi AND check certain apps. This tripped a wire in my brain and planted the seed that maybe this isn’t “just” happening in China.
Without notice, without warning, without reason…my account was gone.
For six months I emailed everyone at Facebook demanding an explanation.
I felt powerless.
I wondered if anyone noticed.
I wondered if anyone cared?
Family.
Friends I’ve known my entire life.
Colleagues.
But, I got crickets.
I thought of the friends I tried to find when I realized they were missing or had been hacked, did they care?
A few acquaintances reached out and the people I’m closest too aren’t on the platform, so nothing changed there…but this was eye opening.
Christopher Cook from The Freedom Scale mentioned in a note today how many will say “Well if you don’t like it you can leave” and he got me thinking on this topic.
These people who make these statements think they are untouchable because they “obey” the orders by their self-proclaimed masters not realizing they are actually targeted more than those that are censored because they are falling victim to the propaganda, which is never for the greater good of the individual nor the collective, so everyone loses.
We must remember the digital realm is a tool for communication and it’s up to us to cultivate genuine connection beyond the shadows of platforms that are just corporations wearing an opaque veil…a shadow for government spying….a shadow for data harvesting and exploitation of primal impulse, emotions, and the ever mind-programming dopamine hits that keep the desire for more on a treadmill of consuming things and information.
These platforms can be useful bits to incorporate into our daily life, but on their own they can bite… and in one instant your identity, just as it can be stolen, can be deleted…poof, you’re a ghost. …and on the flip side, if you spend too much time inside of them you’ll also become a ghost to a life passing you by…dead to the world but plugged into a scrying machine that stole all your time.
If you disappear will anyone notice…. or care? Would your profile still be floating around on a server somewhere in a dusty dark room to be found sometime in the future during the next Steampunk age? How does it make you feel to suddenly be in silence…the urge to check your app no longer useful because nothing is there…and no one?
Like a corporation that views you as a replaceable number, so too, does the interweb view you as a point of data.
If you don’t “bend” to the agenda you’re fired.
If you don’t “Play” the game, you’re given a funeral pyre.
If you don’t go along with the masses, you’re called a liar.
If you trust yourself and not the experts, you’re banished in a ceasefire.
Back your stuff up off-line.
Digitally detox and tune-out of time.
It’s baffling how little people care about their freedom, their life, about each other.
No one cares, so you better damn well care about YOU and do what’s best for YOU and let those in your life know they MATTER… in real life…and let the rest be whatever it is.
So, what happens if you’re deleted?
I enjoyed the break, it was a gift, a blessing. Maybe the fact checkers thought they were doing something hurtful and it did make me angry at the ridiculousness…at the loss of freedom of speech….but it didn’t hurt me…it reminded me what I really need and what I don’t….it gave me reprieve so that I could see things with new eyes….and the harsh reality helped me turn inwardly to recognize my connection with the Divine is always on-line…in the real and nothing can take that away from me.
Live your life on your terms but don’t get stuck in the digital…pinch yourself…go outside…go for a walk…anything to remind you that the lines will continue to blur and you always want to know exactly where that line is as the agenda progresses into the internet of things.
No one cares (until it’s them, until something affects them, until they find themselves in your shoes) and it’s ok…you don’t need distractions to guide your way, nor talking heads who need you for their power-plays….they need you…but you don’t need them…and that’s how you win the game. 😉
Enjoy your life…your way…start now…be a fool, be a beginner, be a loser, be a winner…just do what you care about. There’s only so much time in the day and our capacity for connection is not meant to be spread so thin or pulled away from what’s right under our nose.
Blessings,
Angela
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Loved this! Well said.
The big illusion in all this internet thing is the fooling around with desires, wishes, hopes, and feelings. Actually, it’s what I would expect in an S/M club. No, there is no such thing as a "social network" or even "friends." It’s camouflage. And unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as saying, "If you don't like it, leave it"—because, over the years, more and more real friends have been lost to the system. They had to take on several jobs to pay their bills, and often, the only way to keep in contact with them was via digital illusion.
Did I like that? Not at all. It was just how digital times changed human interaction. And it feels like it’s getting worse: the anonymity that allows fools to spread their hate and stupidity is infecting the real world and real interactions. Since the COVID experiment, mistrust and fear have been written on the sad faces of far too many people.
So let's pray that this era will pass by, just like the era of digital wristwatches did.
If you want to read more: https://open.substack.com/pub/vigorcalma/p/snake-pit-internet?r=4r7rff&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
(But I guess it's not new to you at all. ;) Have a great day!)