Why I Now Prefer Book Blogging Over Social Media
There's multiple reasons for that and one of them being that I felt that it was honestly not that social anymore and lacking both authenticity and real connection, for intance between my so-called friends on Facebook. Not that I DON'T have real connections with some of my friends on Facebook, but with a few, that connection existed before we were even "friends" on that platform. For how often do people rely on social media for updating themself on what friends and/or family are up do and how they're doing, rather than actually calling, texting, or for that matter, meeting up with them in real life? Yes, I know a lot of people are busy with work, family, and what-not, but is it really that hard sending a quick text if you really wanted to? There's of course also the issue that at the moment, social media is riddled with both influencers, content creators, and bots, which makes it even more difficult.
Something else that I've noticed, especially as a woman, are all the men, particularly white and middle-aged, that often comments or DM women on platforms like Instagram and Threads, talking about how they'd like to date that particular woman, caress their curves, shag them, and whatever else comment/DM they might cough up. It honestly makes me as a woman feel unsafe because of all that catcalling and sexual harassment, because that's what it is in a lot of cases, catcalling and sexual harassment ONLINE (and of course, as it's online, there's digital evidence of it happening). The whole thing basically made me turn both my Threads and Instagram accounts on "private", and more or less stopped posting all-together, because when I posted a selfie before, and I've only posted "innocent" ones, I still got harassed. It honestly made me feel unsafe.
Can men please just stop objectify and sexualising women, just because we exist and post an (innocent) selfie online? There's after all reasons why women either are single or choose the bear. I'm wondering how they'd react if/when their daughters are in their 20's or 30's and recieve similar comments and DM's like those men send/give themself to women at the moment. I just know that if I had a daughter in her 20's, I'd be totally creeped out if a random dude in his 40's or 50's commented on my daughter's photo something down the line of "I'd love to take you out on a date" or "I'd love to kiss your curves". I seriously hope men not only take notes on how to behave, but also realise how stupid you look. If you'd go up to a random woman in real life and say "I'd love to caress your curves", you'd be labeled a creep who sexually harass women, so why on earth do you think it's okay to do it online? I'm not saying to not give genuine compliments to women you know in real life and already know how they'd react/feel, I'm just saying to think twice before you click send/post on compliments to women online, especially if you don't know them properly.
This is just some of the main reasons why I've more or less dropped all social media at the moment, aside from Facebook and Goodreads, partly to keep in touch with some people I know who live overseas, or to keep track of my reading. I'll also obviously keep book blogging, as I'm an avid reader after all. I'm honestly just so sick and tired of the insincerity of social media, and at times, the harassment I get from (some) men online, that it makes me withdraw a bit. There's after all more to women than their bodies/looks (the most of us have brains and personality too, unless it's consumed by social media), which is part of the reason why I love blogging about books - it takes away the focus from my body/looks and over to the books I read and thus my intellect.
To put it this way, my little bookish corner online feels like a bit of a safe space at the moment where I can be me.
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