Daily writing prompt

How do you use social media?

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Honestly, as little as possible and as much as necessary.

That sounds like something a politician would say when trying not to answer a question, but in this case it happens to be true. I use social media because if you write regularly and want people to know your writing exists, sooner or later you have to wander into that digital town square, pin your notice to the wall, and hope it survives between the conspiracy theories, dinner photos, and somebody announcing that they are “done explaining themselves” for the third time this week.

What social media really gave the world was a license for people to share things they once wisely kept private.

There used to be a time when a person might think, I probably do not need to tell 600 people this. Social media arrived and said, Actually, not only should you tell them, you should add pictures, hashtags, and perhaps a dramatic song lyric.

That is why Studio C nailed it years ago with their “Facebook Friends Song.” The amazing part is that twelve years later, the joke still works almost line for line. The overly political friend is still posting daily warnings that civilization will collapse by lunch if you disagree with them. The TMI person is still offering medical updates nobody requested, complete with photographic evidence no one wanted. The vague poster still writes things like, “I can’t believe this happened,” then waits like a fisherman for someone to ask what happened so they can mysteriously answer, “It’s complicated.”

Then there is the publicly emotional post, where private heartbreak somehow becomes a public press conference.

And of course, every platform still has that one person determined to prove they are happier than anyone has ever been in human history. Every meal is photographed. Every anniversary is documented like a royal event. Every spouse is described as perfect in a way that makes you quietly suspect someone forgot an anniversary yesterday.

The strange thing is that social media keeps changing clothes, but never really changes personality. Facebook ages into something slightly quieter, then the same habits appear somewhere else with different logos and shorter attention spans.

That is one reason I keep some distance from it. I do not really use social media the way many people do. I do not wake up eager to see what strangers are furious about before breakfast. Mostly I use it as a delivery route: post the day’s writing, share a thought, maybe glance around briefly, then back away slowly before somebody’s uncle explains world economics in all caps.

Teaching journalism probably made me even more cautious. I use The Social Dilemma with my students because they need to understand that social media is not primarily built to inform them; it is built to keep them staring at the screen. Accuracy is optional. Emotion is profitable. Outrage travels first class.

People love to make jokes about Wikipedia being unreliable, but compared to the average unsupported claim floating through social media, Wikipedia often looks like Encyclopædia Britannica wearing glasses and carrying footnotes.

So yes, I use social media. But mostly the way you might handle a public restroom at a highway gas station: get in, do what you came to do, avoid touching anything unnecessary, and leave before something unsettling happens. 😄📱🚪

Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.