This month, June 2026, I deleted Snapchat. It was the one last proper social media I had. Sure I may have to temporarily own it again for trips to keep in contact with people back home to avoid roaming charges, but for my normal day-to-day life, I am social media free. Only using iMessage or normal SMS to text people.

In light of this, I have dug up a very old blog post I wrote back in 2019, but I never posted. I don’t know why I never posted it, but when reading in back the other day, I thought it was good enough to not just sit in a random folder for the rest of time. The below photos were taken by me.

(Written in 2019)

So I need to rant about something. This isn’t going to be well written, it’s 1:20am. But a lot has been going through my brain. Mostly stuff that is totally irrelevant and unimportant – yet, still, it occupies my brain at this hour of the night.

I really hate it when people you meet say they’re passionate about something, whether it be art, writing, photography, scrapbooking, baking, you name it. But, you never see them do anything about it.

You never see that baker bake a cake, nor do you ever see that artist paint a picture. That writer you know never has any new writings to tell you about. Some of these people might have “painter enthusiast” on their tinder bio, but never mention it to you in conversation, nor have you ever seen them paint a single picture.

I get it, some people work in pure privacy. I being one of those people. I’m a poet, and my poems are about my feelings, so they’re not something I throw around for all the world to witness. But, upon finishing my work, I feel a sense of elation that I just HAVE to tell people about. Don’t these mysterious beings feel that, if they too work in private?

Sure you might of seen some dusty photographs your “photographer” best friend took at some point before you met them, but have you actually ever seen them take a picture?

All they ever seem to do, though, is scroll through their phone. When they put their phone down, they’re “bored” and want to “go out” or “just do something” but they “don’t know what”.

These are people that have claimed to be very, very creative people. Growing up, my father always told me that creative people are never bored, as creativity feeds on boredom. I’m never bored. I describe myself as an artist, photographer and writer.

But anytime I meet someone who claims to have the same passions, they never show an interest in them. A person who claims to be an artist doesn’t own any paints, paper, pens, clay. Nothing. A person who put in their bio they’re a gamer have hardly ever played a game, let alone the game they said they enjoy most.

I don’t get it, Is this just many cases of people’s imagination of their ideal selves getting the better of them? Is the world just full of liars trying to impress that person on Tinder or on a blog or forum? Or is something more deep at play here? 

Have apps like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram created a world of people who scroll their life away, only wishing they were that photographer or baker they claimed to be online?

For them to have advertisements flashed in their face left right and centre of things they must have, so the only time they put down their phone is to beg their parents, friend or significant other to go to the store with them, as there’s that one thing they have got to have.

Why don’t you paint? Or write? Or bake? Why do you only shop and scroll? I’m starting to wonder, is this a case of phone addiction? Like, my parents say I’m addicted to my phone, but when I’m on my phone, I’m replying to comments on my art blog, about improvements I can make to my next piece of work.

I’m editing my essays and articles, jotting down poetry ideas when I see something that sparked my interest on the street. I’m using my phone as a camera for my photography blog, and editing videos for a new project. I don’t even have a twitter account. Or instagram. Or Facebook. That’s where the difference is.

Some people only dream what they wish to be, as they scroll their lives away.