So I like plants and gardening. My appartment is full of plants and I have a small herb nursery in my window sill. I’m currently growing three basil plants and a pepper plant.
I go to social media for tips and tricks and as usual it’s full of people with grade A set ups producing lots of herbs and veggies and stuff. I started growing my pepper plant and after weeks I managed to produce a whopping number of 1 pepper. The weird thought that occurred to me was: I failed. I failed because my pepper plant isn’t as productive as the plants I see online.
Meanwhile: did I have fun doing this? Yes, I loved watching the progress of this plant. I did feel cool when I added my home grown pepper to my dinner. Isn’t that what hobbies are about?
How many people are out there quitting things because they aren’t immediately good at it because social media primed us to crave instant satisfaction through constant dopamine hits? Pick up hobbies, be bad at them, learn, have fun.
It’s not social media, but the general mercification of every aspect of human life that we are seeing under a last-stage capitlistic society. Social media is “just” one of the main communication medium and that’s why you see it like an ideological source.
Fight against that, as much as you can. You should spend your time with things you find personally valuable for yourself and the people you love, do not use productivity as a worth criteria!