Social Media is Not Your Friend

Let’s not play pretend.

Social media doesn’t care about you. It never has. It never will.

And the sooner you stop treating it like a friend, the less you’ll find yourself crying into your Instagram analytics at 2 a.m., wondering why 10k followers equals 3 likes and a spam DM.

This is not a rant about quitting social media. It’s a PSA. Because I don’t think most people realize how toxic this “friendship” really is.

Social Media Is the Frenemy With Benefits

You know that one person who hypes you up in public but talks trash behind your back?

That’s social media.

It gives you this illusion of connection — community, even — as long as you’re useful to its agenda.

The moment you stop posting consistently?

Ghosted.

The second you take a break for your mental health?

Shadowbanned.

You step out of the algorithm’s good graces for a single beat and suddenly it’s like you never existed.

No reach.
No engagement.
No love.

We’ve all seen it — and worse, we blame ourselves for it.

You Are Not the Customer — You’re the Product

Here’s the truth they don’t want you thinking too hard about: You are not the one being served. You are the one being sold.

Your photos.
Your videos.
Your hot takes.
Your trauma.
Your perfectly cropped sunset pics.

It’s all content. And content is currency.

Social media platforms exist to keep eyeballs on screens. The longer you scroll, the more ads they show. The more ads they show, the more they charge. That’s the business model.

So when they say things like: “Boost this post to reach more people!”

What they really mean is: “We purposely showed your post to fewer people so you’d pay us. Dance, monkey!”

Engagement Is Not Validation

Let me say that again for the people performing in the back: Engagement is not validation.

Likes don’t mean you’re loved.
Shares don’t mean you’re successful.
Follows don’t mean you’re safe.

Algorithms reward performance, not purpose.

And if your content doesn’t entertain, polarize, provoke, or perfectly match what the algorithm thinks people want in that moment — you’re invisible.

This isn’t personal.
It’s programmed.

“Build Your Business on Social!” — Said Every Bad Course Ever

Let me just say this:

If your entire business lives on social media, your business doesn’t actually exist.

You’re squatting on borrowed land. And landlords like Meta and TikTok are not known for being generous or stable.

One glitch, one false flag, one terms-of-service violation that no human ever actually reviewed… and boom. Your page is gone.

Your followers?

Gone.

Your content?

Vaporized.

All that effort. All that “audience building.” And for what? A deleted account and an automated support ticket that never gets answered?

Please.

But Everyone’s Doing It…

Sure they are. And they’re also silently burning out from the never-ending treadmill of content.

They’re planning 30 reels a month.
Batching TikToks.
Learning trending audio.
Stalking engagement spikes.
Posting “authentically” at scale.

It’s not connection. It’s performance art. And most of them? They don’t even like it. They’re just afraid to stop — because the second they do, it all stops.

And if you stop, the audience moves on. That’s how it works.

Social media is not your friend.

It’s a popularity contest judged by a robot.

Real Friends Don’t ‘Algorithm’ You

Your actual friends check in because they want to. They send memes to make you laugh, not to game reach. They don’t expect you to “engage within the first 30 minutes or else.”

So why are we building our lives, our businesses, our confidence, on platforms that turn basic human interaction into a metric?

Why are we handing over our creativity to a for-profit machine that ghostwrites the rules daily?

You don’t have to play the game. At least not like this.

You Don’t Owe the Algorithm Anything

You don’t owe it a reel every day.
You don’t owe it vulnerability as a brand strategy.
You don’t owe it your peace of mind, your burnout, your identity.

It’s not your boss.
It’s not your business partner.
It’s not your friend.

It’s a tool. Use it accordingly. Or don’t use it at all.

So What’s the Alternative?

Build on land you own. Your website. Your blog. Your products. Your systems. Something that doesn’t evaporate the minute a platform decides you’re not “relevant.”

You want long-term sustainability? Then start treating your content like an asset, not bait.

Let social media amplify your message — not contain it. Let it be a tool — not your tether.

And for the love of sanity, please stop giving it god-tier power over your self-worth.

Social media is not your friend.

It is a for-profit engagement machine built on performance, not connection. Your value is not measured in likes, views, or shares.

Build your brand on land you own — not the algorithm’s whim.

You don’t owe the platform anything.

Not your art.

Not your sanity.