There is a sort of contradiction in the attempt to communicate some thing over social media that someone doesn’t want to know.

The contradiction is the assumption that goes into the idea of social media: it is based in identity.

The question here goes to identity and if we are actually encountering a person through intellectual engagement with social media. Or better. Is it possible to engage philosophically over social media?

This kind of question is never asked, mainly because it represents a certain kind of offense, a certain inherent disgust embedded in the very understanding of what it is to be in our modern life. Not only are we not allowed to ask this question, but the answers that we get usually when we ask it offend our sensibilities such that we are pretty much incapable of understanding what a question could mean; the answer can’t be given through the terms of media because the answer is not expressed but only indicated. Social media is about expression where mental health is what is indicated.

This can be exemplified by the following statements:

If social media contributes to mental health, what does that say about the issues that I’m facing? That is, in as much as I found this through social media.

If social media may act as a solution to mental issues, what does that say of how I think about myself? Since I am never actually present on the internet.

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