Leaving social media has been great, I feel like myself again.

I decided to drop the majority of social media a while ago. (I have only really kept Twitter just so I can get post notifications.)

I have been able to enjoy things on my own without the opinions of others swaying what I might think. Seeing people with their moral superiority on whether or not "X is problematic, do not watch it/play it/etc" is very draining when you already know how to consume media critically. It's especially draining when it's very obvious that the "problematic" part of said piece of media is one of the main themes. It's supposed to be there to tell you "hey, this is bad!" yet seeing people take it out of context is just annoying.

Besides that (I did not mean to rant about that so much) I have been feeling better about myself. I have been feeling more comfortable with being myself and embracing my interests no matter how "cringe" someone might think they are. I'm a nerd, and sometimes I hate calling myself that because it feels like it will make me look like I'm trying hard to be different or whatever, because people online don't and should not know everything about me, but there's no other way to describe myself than with that word.

When I was still using other socials, I was worried that people were going to make fun of me because of what I listen to, because I enjoy fanfiction at my age, because I do a lot of things that people would get bullied for back when I was a teenager. Being off of social media has given me back the years where I was supposed to just be myself, and not worry what others think.

I was in high school in the early-mid 2010s. I see a lot of young people on here. I am 22 years old now, and if I have any advice for people who are scared to be themselves, you have nothing to fear. The people who make fun of you for being you, are insecure and just trying to find their place in life. Embrace your interests, otherwise, you're going to look back at those teen years and think "why was I hiding myself?" and it's okay to be scared to be yourself in front of other people. Teenagers are mean. So even if you can't be yourself in person, be yourself online. You have the power to be completely anonymous. And if someone comes onto your website, or an account, saying horrible things about you, then you can easily just block them and never have to deal with them again.

If you can leave social media, I recommend doing so. If you are worried about losing contact with friends, ask them if there is another way that they can contact you. And always practice internet safety.