#i sound like a parent with 'they're spending too much damn time on social media'

[cobraonthecob]

i'm just. going to sneeze out some thoughts regarding junior drivers being arrogant enough to publicly like tweets regarding lance. the tl;dr is that everyone should get off of lance's back for being a pay driver and that every single celebrity should reduce the time they spend on social media interacting with fans and fan content, because as we have just seen with bianca, it turns into a very, very ugly situation and a reputation set on fire and thrown away

drugovich makes sense since he is aston martin's reserve driver would be called up to drive for the team should anything happen to fernando or lance. this is not to excuse him, and he should not be taking out his frustration on any driver (if i'm going to be spicy, maybe turn your ire to the driver who retired a few years ago and then came back), especially when said driver is in the same team as him and technically higher in rank. if anything, if he really wants to play his cards right, then he should wait until fernando finally retires, get the seat, and try to prove why he thinks he's better than lance (and then he makes rookie mistakes and the fans turn on him. that's just how it all goes for most rookies. do really well in feeder series and f1 throws lemons at you. george russell was a victim of this, as was mick. yes, horrendous cars, but fans are quick in changing their opinions on young drivers)

bianca however, makes no sense on why she would be frustrated about lance's presence in f1 unless there was a valid point to make about how financially inaccessible this sport is becoming (which none of the tweets from what i heard, did not talk about and only insulted lance). if we are to ignore everything else for a minute and put it in a vacuum, then bianca's frustration at lance having a seat at aston martin makes zero sense. bianca is currently in an f4 equivalent series and a midfield driver who should be focusing on becoming a better driver and a contender for top three, not liking tweets talking shit about a driver in a series way above her and in a team she is not backed by. like, let's say bianca does well next year, gets into an f4 series, does well there, rinse, repeat, and rise to the top, 2027 rolls around, she would be up against whether or not lando or oscar are still with mclaren or if they've moved to other teams or left f1 (let's just assume both of them are still there). she, as a rookie, would be going up against the talents of two drivers who have been with mclaren since 2019 and 2023, respectively. her concern should not be to a driver who is in a completely different team, but to proving that she is a capable driver

now back to actual context, there is no excuse for either drugovich or bianca liking anti lance tweets. that is extremely disrespectful from both of them, and i hope that this situation becomes a lesson to all junior drivers that the fans' eyes are on you and you have to distance yourself from the fandom. if aston martin or the fia really had a problem with lance, they can deal with it on their own.

[family-video]

Introduction

Hello, not sure if anyone would ever read this but I'll say it anyway. I'm tired of living like this. With AI, constant modernization, instant gratification, all of it. I know I'll sound old and bitter, but bear with me. Im 23 years old, and over a decade of my life has been owned by the internet.

When I was 11, I was given my first tablet. I used it mostly to play games, but I began obsessively scrolling on iFunny and Tumblr. If I wasn't doing that, then I was watching Youtube. I spent hours on it every day, cycling through the apps. Then when I was 13, I got my first smartphone. It somehow got even worse. I had access to every social media now, and I wanted every hour of my waking day spent scrolling on Instagram, snapchat, twitter, everything and anything I could download. I spent my years like this until I was 18, and COVID hit.

As I was bored in quarantine, I finally realized something-I felt empty. I was no longer surrounded by anyone, I had no one to prove myself to. I turned off my phone and reflected for awhile, and realized how deeply I missed life before social media.

Before I turned 11, I was truly living. And the world felt alive with me. Some might argue that perhaps I only felt that way because I was a child, but I disagree. I know there was a shift there. When I was a kid, before the internet entered my household, I woke up on the weekends- and did nothing. There was no phone to grab and immediately scroll on. I would lay, look at the ceiling, or glance at the ticking Hello Kitty clock mounted on the wall to know if it was too early to get up for the day. Once I was up, I would sit at the table and eat my breakfast. I would read my books, play on my DSi, or play with my littlest pet shop figures. I would go outside to blow bubbles, or sit in front of the TV to watch SpongeBob.

Then if my parents felt like going out to eat, we would. We would go to Texas Roadhouse and not mind the long wait, and then go to my favorite place in the world- Family Video. In there I would spend all my time looking at the video games before renting something I liked and going home.

I don't know if this makes sense, but things felt so alive. The world felt almost sparkly. Everywhere we went was busy, but no one seemed to mind.

However, now, I feel like things are dull. Dead. Again, I do not think this is because I am an adult.

Now I wake up, and I immediately grab my phone. Even when I try my best not to, I subconsciously do it. I read through my unimportant notifications and scroll on TikTok or instagram reels before thinking "What the hell am I doing? I need to get up!" When I do get up, I eat my breakfast while scrolling on twitter, reading unimportant things like celebrity drama.

Then if my boyfriend and I don't feel like going anywhere for the weekend, we sit, and we scroll, and we watch YouTube, and play Roblox. (Yes, I am aware I am too old for that. But playing Bloxy Bingo with my siblings is too much fun.) And if we feel like eating out, we don't even go out. We simply order off DoorDash, sit, and wait. And I plan on digging into this "instant gratification" thing in another post, but I will say that it feels so dull.

Another thing too is that both my boyfriend and I have anxiety- and going out to stores doesn't necessarily feel the same anymore. Ok, here is where I will hear someone out if they say "well it's cuz you were a kid!". Is it just me, or after COVID did everyone forget basic manners? I can't walk into Target without feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack. Everyone is cutting you off abruptly, or walking so quickly behind you they're almost stepping on your shoes. And NO ONE says excuse me. Sure we don't have to, but it would be a little nice if I had a clue that you were trying to get past me in an aisle without bumping my shoulder.

This stressful experience leads me to want to isolate myself further. And as I head to the car, sweat dripping down my forehead from damn near running to leave, I get a notification on my phone from my crime app telling me that there was a super terrible tragedy nearby that instills the feeling in me that I need to stay home.

I need to stay safe inside, continue door dashing, continue scrolling.

But I'm done with it. I have felt the desire to abandon this lifestyle for a couple of years now, but this time im going to do it- and I mean it.

I am going to live like its the 2000s again.

Yes, I am aware that I could never truly go back to the way things were before. And there are in fact modern things I want to keep in my life. Modern interests, etc. But what I mean is I don't only want to quit social media (besides Tumblr so I can write), but I want to go back to some of the technologies that genuinely worked just fine. In an ever changing world, I can appreciate that we make technological advances every single day. But maybe we don't need to.

I know this is long, and again I am unsure if anyone read this. But if they did, sorry for the rambling, and thank you for reading my thoughts.

So without further ado, here I go- back into my imaginary time machine.