PluralFinch Official

• for stealing my friends’ attention

• for wanting to go outside and do things but having to check the internet to know what those things are

• for not being able to keep up with my community and events without it

• for both sparking my imagination and yet stealing it

• for the negative feelings it gives me about my body

• for the constant, never ever ending stimulation

• for ruining my attention span

• for both the awareness and the depression. the big sad.

• for turning hobbies into performance and content

• for the late nights, the insomnia, the bad decisions I make lying awake in bed

• for the blue light that’s ruined my eyes

• for the poor posture, the neck pain, the carpal tunnel in my wrists and thumbs

• for the exposure to violence and trolls and incels and hate

• for the anxiety, the fear—everything that comes with the bad news in every headline

• for the algorithm, the manipulation. the mind games. the malice seared into my brain

something shifted. between childhood and here. it was gradual and then it was not. after covid, after tiktok. it stopped feeling optional.

it used to feel like a place but now it feels like a condition. i don’t think it’s broken. i think it broke us. and I think it’s working exactly as intended.

i didn’t ask for this. i didn’t have a choice. i didn’t have a chance to opt out of it.

we did not log on, we acclimated.

and I hate it here.

i try my best to stay away but how can you?