Starting Afresh on Social Media

Today is the first day of 2022. A new year, a fresh opportunity, a chance to turn a new leaf.

We tell everyone to start afresh. We get messages telling us to do the same.

But where are such messages exchanged? Mostly on social media.

The problem is, when you scroll your social media feed, there are painful reminders of the past. Things that you're trying to heal from, trying to forget, and trying to move on.

On the one hand, we're telling people to start afresh, and on the other, we're making sure they can never do that.

Most users do not know the difference between help and toxic advice. When they use social media for guidance, they do not know which content to absorb and which ones to ignore.

And their own posts? Mostly, they're remnants of their past. They are neither focused on the present nor looking forward to the future.

Now, coming to the point, some apps do have the option to hide old posts or even delete them. But for commercial reasons, they're so complicated that the user either keeps suffering or makes a new, fake account.

That new account gives them a kind of impunity that they shouldn't have. To say whatever they want to random strangers. To watch harmful content and more.

In short, anonymously suffer and make others suffer. To not be proud of their identity. And to let shame rule over them.

While more people are learning to let go of regrets, to have healthy coping mechanisms, social media also needs to play its part.

If someone wants to erase memories of a traumatic past, it should be made easier. The option shouldn't be sneakily hidden somewhere in the settings.

It should be right there as a tab at the top, to be used at will. It should be as user-friendly as search engine optimized content these days.

However, we can't call bigwigs like Zuckerberg or edit the apps ourselves. So, here's what we can do.

This new year, feel free to edit your social media feeds as much as you want. Take all the time you need to ensure it reflects the latest version of yourself.

You made mistakes, you suffered, you survived, you healed, and you grew. There were successes, failures, understandings, realizations, etc.

And sometimes, there was nothing. A static period, a void.

None of this is fully understandable to any of your followers. So, create a feed that helps YOU.

It serves you well, makes you happy, makes you proud of yourself. Welcome to being your best friend and the only source of validation you ever needed. 

You're finally starting afresh in 2022.