Sometimes, it is better to junk some efforts with which you have been engaged than to continue their upkeep while simultaneously wasting your time. Social media was this for me. I was big proponent way back in 2008-2010. I saw that it could have some real world impact. Then it began swirling and twirling because of identity politics, Christofascism, etc et al.
I could wring my hands about it… fall prey as so many in our culture to the “sunk cost fallacy.” But I simply do not have enough disingenuous lies left to tell myself about staying on social media. I feel the same way about the academy. But working at a college provides me some benefits and keeps a roof over my head. I really believe there is no hope for higher education to achieve what it has promised for so long. On the other hand, unlike social media, I still need to interact with where I put in my labor. I do not get paid to be on social media. I know people can make a living being “influencers,” but I am not that. And all that do for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc et al, provides them with FREE LABOR.
If the vast majority of people stay in the interconnecting echo chambers of the major platforms, I do not believe that these folks will be amusing themselves to death. I think they will be aggravating themselves into a stroke or heart attack.
So, as far as I am concerned, like every dedicated philosopher, I turn back to the beginnings, back to the start of explorations–and away from the dead-ends that I have encountered as well as the circular side-tracks.
CALL ME MAGGIE 