Scrolling. Liking. Posting. Waiting.
It’s a cycle most of us know too well, and yet it leaves us emptier than before. I’ve come to realize that social media, for all its promises of connection, often feels more like a soul-sucking weight, a space where meaning is diluted into metrics, and affirmation becomes nothing more than hollow currency.

The Mirage of Connection

Social media platforms present themselves as bridges: tools to stay in touch, share ideas, and be part of the conversation. At first, that feels true. A friend comments, a colleague likes your post, someone shares your story. For a moment, it feels like validation.

But here’s the trap: the connection is rarely deep. Instead of genuine conversations, we get emojis. Instead of presence, we get endless scrolling. Instead of being seen, we’re merely glanced at. What masquerades as closeness often leaves us lonelier.

Affirmation Without Substance

The like button was designed to be frictionless, the tiniest gesture of approval, delivered with no thought, no commitment, and often no real care. Yet many of us end up hinging our self-worth on these small digital affirmations.

• A post that gets 100 likes feels like a victory.
• A post that gets 5 feels like a failure.

But neither number reflects the truth of our lives. Whether you’re a great parent, a talented professional, or a kind friend isn’t determined by a thumb icon. The danger is that we begin to equate value with visibility, mistaking attention for meaning.

The Weight of Constant Comparison

Perhaps the heaviest burden is the constant comparison. Social media thrives on curated perfection, the highlight reels, the filtered smiles, the carefully staged moments. And so, while we know on some level that everyone’s feed is a performance, we can’t help but measure ourselves against it.

We compare our real lives, messy and complex, to the edited fragments of others. The result? Dissatisfaction. Anxiety. A nagging sense that we’re always falling behind.

Why It Feels Soul-Sucking

What makes social media especially draining is not just the time it consumes, but the kind of energy it demands. Instead of nurturing creativity, reflection, or genuine relationships, it constantly tugs at our attention. We feed it pieces of ourselves, and in return it feeds us dopamine spikes, shallow, addictive rewards that keep us coming back for more even when we know better.

In the end, it’s not the scrolling itself that weighs us down. It’s the meaninglessness: the endless cycle of giving and receiving affirmation that doesn’t nourish us, doesn’t change us, and doesn’t make our lives richer.

Reclaiming Meaning

The truth is, social media isn’t going away. But we can change our relationship with it. Here are a few ways I’ve been trying:

• Post with intention. Share what genuinely matters, not what you think will perform well.
• Detach from numbers. Notice how often you check likes or views, and remind yourself that they aren’t measures of worth.
• Curate carefully. Follow accounts that inspire or teach you something real. Unfollow those that only trigger comparison.
• Invest offline. Call a friend. Go for a walk. Read a book. Do things that fill you in ways no screen ever could.

Closing Reflection

Social media is not inherently evil. It’s a tool. But like any tool, its value depends on how it’s used, and right now much of its design leans toward draining rather than nourishing.

The question we each need to ask is simple: Do I want to live for clicks and likes, or for meaning and depth?

Because meaning will never be found in an algorithm. It’s built in conversations, in creativity, in stillness, and in presence. And none of that requires a like button.