If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
If I Could Un Invent One Thing, It Would Be Social Media
If I could un invent something, it would not be war, or weapons, or even money.
It would be social media.
Not because it is all bad.
But because of what it has quietly done to us.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped being people and started being profiles.
We reduced full human lives into highlights, captions, angles, and algorithms. We turned thoughts into content. Feelings into engagement. Pain into relatability. Joy into performance. Connection into something measurable.
Likes. Views. Shares. Followers.
Numbers replaced nuance.
Social media did not just change how we communicate. It changed how we value each other and how we value ourselves.
We now live in a world where attention is currency, validation is public, and silence feels like rejection. Where people feel unseen unless they are posting, unheard unless they are reacting, and unworthy unless someone else confirms otherwise.
And the most unsettling part?
Most of us do not even realize how deeply it has shaped us.
We Are More Connected Than Ever and Lonelier Than Ever
We have instant access to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Yet genuine connection feels rare.
We scroll past hundreds of lives a day. We know what people ate, where they traveled, who they are dating, how they look at their best angles but not how they are actually doing.
We do not ask.
We assume.
We mistake proximity for intimacy.
Instead of calling, we watch stories.
Instead of checking in, we double tap.
Instead of talking, we consume.
And slowly, without realizing it, we lose the muscle for depth.
Real conversations feel heavy. Silence feels awkward. Vulnerability feels risky. Presence feels uncomfortable. We are overstimulated, undernourished, and emotionally dehydrated.
We have trained ourselves to skim lives instead of sit with them.
Identity Became a Performance
Social media did not just give us a voice. It taught us to curate ourselves.
We do not just live. We document. We frame moments instead of experiencing them. We think about how something will look before we think about how it feels.
We adjust ourselves for optics.
We ask
Is this post worthy
Will this get engagement
Does this fit the version of me people expect
And slowly, the line between who we are and who we present becomes blurred.
Authenticity feels risky because it might not perform well. Complexity gets flattened. Growth gets staged. Healing becomes aesthetic.
Even vulnerability becomes content.
Not because people are fake, but because the system rewards performance over presence.
Comparison Became a Daily Habit
At no other point in history were humans meant to compare themselves to thousands of people every day.
Yet here we are, scrolling through curated lives, filtered bodies, edited success, while judging our behind the scenes.
We compare our worst moments to someone else’s best seconds.
And it quietly erodes us.
It makes people feel behind when they are not. Inadequate when they are human. Broken when they are simply unfinished.
Instead of asking what do I actually want
We ask why do I not look like them yet
We Forgot There Are Humans Behind Screens
Social media made it easier to dehumanize.
People became opinions instead of lives. Avatars instead of nervous systems. It became easier to dismiss, block, cancel, and judge than to understand.
Outrage travels faster than empathy.
So we stay reactive. Divided. Defensive.
We talk at each other instead of with each other.
And Still We Keep Scrolling
Because it fills space.
Because silence feels too loud.
Because loneliness feels heavier without distraction.
Even when it hurts us, it gives us something. Attention. Validation. Escape.
That is what makes it dangerous.
Not that it exists, but that it replaced things it was never meant to replace.
Community. Presence. Depth. Stillness.
What We Lost Along the Way
We lost boredom and with it creativity.
We lost privacy and with it peace.
We lost patience and with it understanding.
We lost presence and with it ourselves.
We did not become worse people.
We became overstimulated people trying to feel human in an inhuman system.
The Way Back
Social media did not ruin humanity overnight.
It slowly nudged us away from ourselves.
The way back is not deleting apps or rejecting technology entirely. It is remembering that we are more than what we post.
That our worth is not visible.
That our lives do not need an audience.
That connection does not need proof.
Being human was never meant to be optimized.
