Female Twitch streamer Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys sparked discussion on Twitter on December 17 when she spoke out about social media being “exhausting.”
The 23-year-old is no stranger to the internet, what with her career being online based, but she opened the conversation up for debate when she spoke out about how platforms like Twitter can make people feel.
“Social media is exhausting,” she tweeted. This echoes similar thoughts of popular YouTuber Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg, who quit the platform on December 16 after calling it a “cesspool” for “virtue signalling.”
social media is exhausting
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) December 18, 2019
Fellow streamer Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo replied with his thoughts on the subject, and explained how constantly seeing the best parts of people’s lives can contribute to that.
“It’s a curated showing of the highlights of people’s lives, which very quickly can make someone else feel inadequate,” he said. It creates a mess of instigation and assumption between people every day. [It’s] also is a good source of cat memes.”
it’s a curated showing of the highlights of people’s lives, which very quickly can make someone else feel inadequate. it creates a mess of instigation and assumption between people every day. it also is a good source of cat memes.
— DrLupo (@DrLupo) December 18, 2019
The Moroccan-Canadian responded, and said that part of the reason being on social media is so tiring is because you never know when you’re going to stumble upon something you didn’t want to see.
“Maybe that’s what makes it so addicting,” she said. “You don’t know if you’ll win by seeing a cat pic, or lose by seeing something that makes you feel bad about yourself.”
maybe that’s what makes it so addicting ? kinda like gambling, you don’t know if you’ll win by seeing a cat pic or lose by seeing something that makes you feel bad about yourself.
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) December 18, 2019
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Team SoloMid star Ali ‘Myth’ Kabbani replied to this with some advice of his own, and echoed that it’s easy for people to forget where they once were and how far they’ve come since.
“Reading a book right now that talks about how people unhealthily compare themselves to other people rather than to who they were yesterday,” he said. “I think it’s easy to forget where we were and how much progress we’ve made.”
Reading a book right now, just finished up with a chapter that talks about how people unhealthily compare themselves to other people rather than comparing themselves to who they were yesterday. I think it’s easy to forget where we were and how much progress we’ve made. ❤
— Myth ? (@TSM_Myth) December 18, 2019
Former Overwatch pro Félix ‘xQc’ Lengyel also responded to Pokimane’s original tweet, but with a different sentiment than his other fellow streamers.
“JUST TURN IT OFF LOOOOL,” he tweeted sarcastically, seemingly referencing the common statement of ‘why are you even on there’ when people say they’re tired of the internet.
JUST TURN IT OFF LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
— xQc (@xQc) December 18, 2019
Pokimane has had a busy year in 2019, making her own clothing merch line, being nominated for Streamer of the Year at the Esports Awards in Arlington, Texas, and having her very own Youtooz figure produced.
She boasts a massive following of over 3.6 million on Twitch, making her the most popular female personality on the platform at this time of writing.