>

You’re not wrong
The impact on mental health alone is insane. After doom scrolling I feel horrible about myself. It’s an onslaught of reading people argue over nothing, comparing myself to photoshopped women, feeling jealous that I don’t get to fuck around and travel, etc. It’s inescapable online. People are the worst version of themselves on the internet. 
The shitty thing is, I’ve tried to get rid of all social media but it makes me feel like a hermit when I do. I’m so conditioned to immediately go on my phone when I’m bored. >

I'm 30 and just got rid of everything in October except BeReal and Snapchat, as lame as that sounds. I like Snapchat because I can still keep in touch with people, post the things I want, and only check the stories I want. No other bullshit, long text posts, arguing, so on. BeReal is fun because it's new, and it's just a once a day prompt to post what I am doing right at the exact moment the notification goes off. 
Everything else was beginning to be exactly how you described it for me. It was just non-stop toxic trash. No more Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for me. I'm actually MUCH happier without them. You'll feel like a hermit but your mental health will thank you for dwindling down your connections to only those who truly want to connect with you, and not the filler garbage of everything else.
ETA- yeah, I didn't get rid of Reddit, because I don't use this like social media, nor does it feel that way to me. It's not a toxic space like the "big 3" are (FB, Insta, Twitter). Getting rid of things for me was getting rid of those 3 mainstream social media apps. Here I most times just see lots of memes and cat pics-its a happy space, not a toxic one like the others are. Sometimes I chime in on things on Reddit, but it's not very often, and admittedly, sometimes it's hard to fight the nature of being human and wanting to have something to say. Personal growth is a journey, and not a perfect one! So if you're out there looking to put yourself in a better headspace- don't give up, keep pushing on, and do what is best for you! >

What is BeReal? I have never heard of it before. Would you mind explaining? >

Sure thing! The idea behind it, is of course to "Be Real!" A notification from the app goes off at a random time once every 24hrs. At that time you take a picture using your rear camera, and front facing camera. You have 2 minutes to do this. It will keep track of how many times you retake, and if you post your BeReal outside of the 2 minutes, it tells others you posted late and shows the time on your post (like 5 min late, 15s late, so on). The idea is, if you're being real and in the moment, these photos won't be curated to be "perfect". There are no filters either. When the notification goes off, it goes off at the same time for EVERYONE who has the app. You can have friends and see what they post in your feed and react with a "realmoji" which is a photo of yourself (like giving a thumbs up, smiling, so on). You can comment and mention as well, as long as you are friends with each other. There is a discovery feed to see what everyone else is posting that you can react to. 
The one photo a day, is all you get in the app. The next time the notification goes off, everything in the feed changes to that current days photos. In your own profile, you can see past "memories" of BeReals from days before. 
Hopefully that's a good explanation! >

This is perfect!! You explained it so well! Thank you for taking the time to do so for me. :) 
The app sounds awesome actually. It seems like something I would be interested in. >

You're welcome! It's not for everyone, but I've really enjoyed it myself! >

Right? Did not see this coming in the Xanga, AIM and MySpace days at all. The biggest contributing factors is that everyone has a smart phone now with cameras and the ability to post, look up and say literally anything they want to. I remember how in the 2000s being able to film yourself, put it onto a computer, edit it and post it online seemed like such a strange, magical and hard thing to do. Like “how the fuck do people do that”. Unless we have a huge shift in culture, I’m assuming we will probably see some strict regulations coming down the line if things get worse. It’s gunna get weird. >

The internet was a different thing when you could only access it at the school library, or at home, or office. The internet needed physical access at x locations. You weren't just on it 24/7 like with smartphones.
Fun statistic. 2012 was the year where, for the first time, over 50% of internet users came from a mobile device. You can quite clearly mark the decline around that time and after. >

Hey now, wasn't that the end of the Mayan long count? IE:
THE END OF THE WORLD?!?!
I kid, but I think it's kind of funny in a way.