My Problem With Numbers#

One factor that keeps me away from social media is my obsession with numbers, such as: views, likes, followers, and so on. And even if I don't post with the intention of gaining numbers, that's how the platform works: they shove those numbers right in your face. At some point, it stops being about posting something interesting and starts being about finding out whether it engaged enough people, or dealing with the frustration of not reaching a certain number of views or likes.

And even if I try to avoid it, that frustration eventually appears. And trust me: there is a huge difference between creating something because you enjoy it and creating something expecting approval.

Online Presence#

On top of that, there's the "online presence" factor, which forces you to keep posting constantly, because whatever you posted yesterday is already old and buried in the feed. Unlike an article on a website, a tutorial, or even a recipe, which simply remain there, waiting for the right person to become interested in them.

I've always been more interested in creating something that represents me and that can still be visited years from now than feeding an endless and cold stream of content.

Here, I don't need to limit myself regarding the subject I want to write about, the number of characters, platform rules, and so on. I post whatever I want, as long as my creativity allows it, and best of all, I don't have to worry about some random user threatening my family in the comments.

Privacy#

One of my biggest issues is privacy. Nowadays, it feels like it's mandatory to post everything about your life. At some point, the internet created the idea that if you don't share something, it didn't happen.

There seems to be a silent pressure to turn personal moments into public content: where you are, what you're eating, where you're going, and how you're feeling.

And I know that for many people this is normal, but I don't work that way. I like keeping parts of my life just for myself, my family, and close friends. Not because I want to hide something, but because not everything has to become content.

When Tragedy Becomes Content#

One of the strangest things about social media is how quickly a tragedy becomes just another piece of content and, even worse, gets trivialized to the point where it's treated like a joke for the sake of attention.

Before family and friends even have time to process what happened, there are already videos, clips, analyses, theories, reactions, people pretending to know the victim, and an entire competition for attention built around the event.

And the real problem is that the algorithm encourages this behavior because more engagement means more money. So it rewards whoever publishes first and attracts the most attention, not whoever treats the subject with respect.

But this only happens because there is an audience willing to consume that type of content.

The Algorithmic Abyss#

It's not like I hate social media (except Twitter, that one I genuinely hate). Through it, I discovered some of my greatest passions in life, such as programming, games, and other hobbies. Through it, I joined communities, met people, and discovered new cultures.

But it's also where I saw the ugliest side of human beings, completely unhealthy communities, and truly disgusting people.

The real problem isn't the platform itself, but the way it encourages certain behaviors and types of content.

The Refuge Called Reddit#

The social network I use the most these days is Reddit, a pretty good place to be, depending on the communities you follow. Of course, there are still problems, such as toxicity, weird communities, and other things of that nature, but it's possible to create a relatively peaceful environment.

There, I simply don't care about metrics, and I don't have to keep seeing things I don't want on my screen with every scroll of the page.

Conclusion#

Perhaps this is one of the biggest reasons why I started this website. Besides being a place where I can talk about everything I enjoy, here I don't need to compete for attention every second. I don't have to worry about my post disappearing into the limbo of generic publications with bigger numbers, nor about how many views it will get before being swallowed by the algorithm.

Of course, even here I still have numbers to torment me. How many views the site had today, yesterday, this week, this month, which countries visitors came from, what's being accessed the most... They're all numbers that sometimes end up making us feel a little discouraged.

But they're also interesting metrics, and sometimes they're actually fun to follow.

The main thing is that I can simply publish something here, close the editor, and move on with my life. Maybe it will be read tomorrow, maybe in a month, or perhaps ten years from now.

It doesn't matter.

At some point, it will certainly find the right person.

And that means far more to me than any number.