Your racist uncle is posting an article about Obama being the lizard Antichrist. Some idiot you went to high school with just got a job that pays way higher than yours. Your ex’s new significant other is frustratingly attractive.
Let’s all just admit it: Facebook is terrible. Like most social media, the vast majority of content exists to make you feel worse about yourself.
Some people just stop using Facebook, but like junk food or heroin, quitting cold-turkey usually leaves you back where you started. But I fixed the Facebook problem. How?
Enter Dogspotting. Dogspotting is, appropriately enough, a Facebook group dedicated to spotting dogs. The rules are simple: no known dogs, no people’s faces, and no drama. Points are awarded for quality spots. Dogs of all shapes and sizes cover the page.
With over 180,000 members, there’s a new post every few minutes. But a strong moderator presence coupled with a near-fanatical sense of loyalty from dedicated spotters keeps the group from going off-topic or declining in quality.
The community Dogspotting has created is strange and wonderful. They take the rules very seriously, but not in a way that seems pedantic. The rules might seem harsh, but it’s what keeps the group from losing what makes it special.
As soon as I was approved to join the group, a miracle happened: my feed became almost entirely pictures of dogs. I don’t know why Facebook’s algorithms felt this was a proportionate allocation of content, but it couldn’t have been a more perfect accident.
Annoying vacation photos? Replaced with dogs.
Pictures of that girl/guy you never quite got over? No more sadness, just dogs.
Ignorant political rants that make you want to want to strangle people? Fuck that noise, here are some fluffy doggos instead.
It sounds a little strange, but changing the face of my social media has changed my general mental wellness. Science backs me up on this: social media, especially Facebook, has been found to increase levels of stress. Exposure to dogs has been found to decrease stress levels.
So in my very unscientific summation, the stress caused by social media is cancelled out or even reversed by constant exposure to dogs.
I think one of the biggest lies that our generation tells itself is that we have to expose ourselves to negative things to remain authentic or informed. The constant barrage of negative things online gives us anxiety, body image issues and trauma. The truth is that you don’t need it. By all means stay informed, but constantly obsessing over negative things does absolutely nothing for you.
To everyone who’s reading this: if you find yourself reading articles designed to outrage and upset you, consider Dogspotting. If you are negatively comparing yourself to someone you barely know, consider Dogspotting. If you find yourself in a bad mood because of someone you saw or something you read on social media, consider Dogspotting. Here’s a link to the group. You’ll thank me later.
