Inquiry: Resources

Antisocial Media: short fiction based on a true story by Kim Z. Dale

“Come on. Absolutely everyone does it.”

“If absolutely everyone jumped off a bridge does that mean I should too?”

“Maybe. If everyone came back from jumping off the bridge alive and uninjured and continued to jump off bridges, sometimes for hours, and they told you that jumping off bridges was a super fun way to stay connected to your friends, particularly for someone like you who never goes out.”

“I go out.”

“Going to work doesn’t count.”

She had no reply to that.

“You can always quit, but you should try it at least a little.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll set up account.”

“Great.”

“I’ll delete it tomorrow.”

“If you want.”

And that is how, after much cajoling from her bestie, she finally joined the newest social media fad. And she did not delete her account. Instead, she fell down the rabbit hole of

obsessive refreshing and

too little sleep and

dry eyes and

constant headaches and

meaningless comparisons and

OMG KITTENS! and

pointless envy and

random laughter and

occasional tears and

hating everyone and

wanting them all to love her and

the overwhelming loneliness of having too many “friends.”

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