The hypocrite in the mirror: Why I finally admitted YouTube is social media

For years, I told people — with some pride — that I don’t use social media.

No Facebook. No Instagram. No TikTok. No endless scrolling through photos of what someone had for lunch.

I considered myself outside of that world.

Then one day I had to ask myself an uncomfortable question:

“If I don’t use social media, why do I spend so much time on YouTube?”

At first, I tried to justify it. YouTube was different, I told myself. I wasn’t there to socialize. I was there to learn. I watched technology videos, history documentaries, business discussions, tutorials, and news. That wasn’t social media. That was education.

Or so I thought.

The problem is that YouTube checks nearly every box that defines a social media platform.

Creators post. Viewers subscribe. People comment, share, like, follow, and build communities. Influencers are born there. Arguments happen there. Trends spread there. Opinions are shaped there.

In other words, it is social media.

The uncomfortable truth is that I wasn’t avoiding social media at all. I was simply choosing the version of social media I preferred.

That’s when I realized my criticism wasn’t really about social media. It was about how people use it.

What I disliked was the endless noise. The outrage. The constant search for attention. The feeling that every moment of life had to be documented and shared.

YouTube felt different because I approached it differently. Instead of posting my breakfast, I watched videos on topics that interested me. Instead of arguing with strangers, I learned from experts. Instead of scrolling through drama, I searched for information.

But that doesn’t change what the platform is. It only changes how I use it.

That realization forced me to confront a small hypocrisy in myself. I had spent years claiming I didn’t participate in social media while actively participating in one of the largest social media platforms on Earth.

The lesson wasn’t that I was wrong about everything. The lesson was that labels can blind us.

Sometimes we reject an entire category because we dislike part of it. Sometimes we convince ourselves that what we do is different because it feels more productive. The truth is almost always more nuanced.

Today, I still don’t use Facebook. I still don’t use Instagram. I still have little interest in many forms of social media.

But I can no longer honestly say that I don’t use social media.

I use YouTube regularly.

And that’s okay.

The real question isn’t whether we use social media. Nearly all of us do, in one form or another. The better question is whether we’re using it intentionally.

If a platform helps us learn, connect, create, and grow, it can be a valuable tool. If it consumes our attention, fuels our anger, or distracts us from real life, it becomes something else entirely.

As for me, I’ve learned that sometimes the person who needs the reality check most is the one staring back from the mirror.

And yes, in this case, that person was me.

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Deryck Burnett is the owner of Megabite Services in Fernandina Beach, where his team has been helping Nassau County residents and businesses with technology for nearly two decades. For questions or comments, visit Megabite.