Are you gonna rage quit?

_{Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash}

I am by no means a big Facebook user. I don’t post regularly, I don’t...I don’t know, whatever it is people do on it. I don’t. But I do scroll it. Or at least, I did.

Last night, I was talking with a friend and she said she was disabling the popular social media app on her phone because she was spending more and more time scrolling it and it was getting to her. And it is draining, isn’t it?
For example, yesterday morning, I woke up early, couldn’t go back to sleep. I spent an hour in bed trying to sleep again, yet couldn’t, so I just lay in bed, looking out the window. Then, after an hour I figured fuck it, there’s no sleep coming, so I got my phone, turned on the Wifi (which I keep switched off during the night) and got scrolling. Well, within 20 minutes, my eyes were falling and I had to put the phone beside the bed and went back to sleep.

The effect of these fucking screens is dangerous. On your eyes as well as on your mental well-being.

So, inspired by my friend, I took the “leap” and disabled Facebook on my phone as well. Why? Because I realized it was becoming a bad habit. It’s a good time-waster, scrolling through Facebook and even the more determined minds (as I like to think of myself) can easily fall into it. It’s 5 minutes, when you’ve got nothing better to do, but those 5 minutes add up and soon, it’s fifty. Or 5 hours. Or God knows how long.

And the thing about FB is...it’s there. It’s so easy to reach for your phone, tap the F icon and let your finger slide. You’re not paying attention, most probably (which is good, ‘cause most of Facebook is shit anyway), but it makes you think you are. Makes you feel connected/informed/whatever. While at the same time, damaging your eyes, tiring you out and idling your brain.

And I thought I wouldn’t get hooked, but I did. Only this morning, I found my thumb was hovering over the spot on the screen where the Facebook icon used to be. Automatically. And then, it took me a second to understand what was wrong.

So yeah, that’s a clear sign a break was needed.

The thing about voluntarily wasting your time on Facebook or other such apps, to me, is directly related to the entitlement that is characteristic of this age and this society. I hate that word, entitlement. So many idiotic, evil little cults and groups use it to justify their disgusting behavior. But it’s the correct word, at least in this situation.

Another term I have trouble with is ‘rage quit’. It’s popular among youngsters, I’ve noticed. Having a rage quit or doing one or whatever. Somehow, it’s justifiable. Like it’s perfectly within your rights to just become fed up with work, life, a stressful situation and act like a complete dick.

And it is technically true. It is your right to become fed up at some point. But I’ve always believed that the correct attitude to have in stressful situations is ‘just a little bit more, I can hold on for just a little while longer’. Now, that doesn’t apply to all situations, obviously, there are many jobs/relationships that are draining and poisonous to you and you should get out of those unashamed.
But most situations aren’t like that. Yeah, your job is stressful, but that’s just part of the job. And the fact is these people who “rage-quit” don’t do it because they are truly, impossibly fed-up. They do it because they can, it’s just a childish form of acting out, drawing attention and basically being a dick.

People today don’t quit because they honestly can’t take it anymore. They quit because they can. And because it makes them seem important. Remember, I wrote a couple of days ago about people who love sounding busy and important? They’re the same people who rage quit.

There’s nothing fucking wrong with their mental state or their capacity to survive under pressure. It’s their little fragile ego that’s just acting out.

Okay, I have no idea how we went from Facebook to these entitled little kiddies, but we did. Anyway, that’s my bit of thoughts for the day.

Cheers for reading,