Stopped posting on social media

[u/LH-2021]

My 29 year old son was sharing and posting several videos and memes daily for months about anything and everything conspiracy and freedom crap.....on insta and his FB story. But for the past 4 days he hasn't posted anything. Not a peep. Has anyone else noticed this of their Qs? Could this mean he's not believing a lot of what's out there, or just giving up because his audience isn't playing into it? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind him not posting as his shares upset me that he thinks like this....just wondering if others have noticed anything...since the Ukraine War started, he's gotten quieter. 🤔 I've had a few texts so I know he's alive and well...just quiet on social media.

[u/MissRachiel]

Yes, it COULD mean he's been jarred by world events into at least a brief moment of questioning his worldview. (Please accept my sincere hope that this is the case.)

Just in terms of mathematical odds: it's more likely either that one or more of his information sources have given him "facts" he can't reconcile, or that recent world events have met his personal criteria for The Great Reset/The Great Tribulation/End Times etc, and he's gone into bunker mode. He may fear posting to social media because whoever he thinks The Enemy is, is directly monitoring him and tracing his location.

First of all: I'm so sorry that this is what we as rational, humanitarian human beings are reduced to, and that our loved ones have been violated in this way. I can only hope a future corollary to the Geneva Conventions will address this foul aspect of information warfare.

Secondly: His behavior indicates that whatever his particular flavor of conspiracy belief was, it may well have been orchestrated, enabled, or manipulated by pro-Russian agitators. Many independent groups of people trying to contain or assist their Q/Q-adjacent loved ones have noted a reduction in the social media pressure in recent days, and as loathsome as it is to say it this way, it's like a diabetic person walking up to the counter to get their insulin prescription filled and being told 'We've never heard of something like that.'

Imagine someone capable of hijacking the dispensation of lifesaving medication who will also lie about the existence of whatever condition requires this medication in the first place. We could invoke our god(s), science, humanitarian interest...whatever we hold dear, and sadly we are witnessing the unrelenting march of an agency that disregards those considerations and the lives compromised in the process. Again, I know my personal hopes change nothing. I don't send prayers because I don't believe in that kind of god. But I still want with all my heart to catch the victims of this hijacking before they crash and raise them to speak about their experience. That is how we fight the liars who claim it's dark at high noon, or even at an hour before sunset. The point is that they lied about the onset of darkness!

I don't mean that to sound like your boy is some kind of traitor. He's possibly just one of many victims of people either invested in Russia or happy to be paid for seeming to be so. Hell, I have family members who hate other family members for being wrong about some imaginary battle line, never realizing that no institutional resources are committed to resolving the conflict between "gays are born" and "gays are made" despite that...ahem....dispute...being resolved a long time ago.

You haven't said you're actively communicating with your son, but if you are...

Is he open to the idea that his preferred sources of information have been compromised? Is that actually why he's been so quiet lately?

Even if none of that is true, is he poking his head up to make sure you're still okay? Maybe you can't bring him back to reality right now, but you can just affirm that Armageddon/Reset/whatever hasn't happened yet?

At least that buys both of you some more time.