Parents that don't do Elf on the Shelf, how do you explain to your kids why you don't?

Atp, my 3 kids don't know what they are missing. My twins are 18mo and daughter is 4yo.

I despise the entire concept. I'm so sick of scrolling social media just to see moms compete with elaborate posts and pictures displaying whose elf "gets into the best mischief overnight" 🙄 and call me the Grinch, but I really don't want to be responsible for orchestrating a whole month of this silly elf moving around my house. It seems so exhausting, and I'm already exhausted to begin with.

That being said, I worry my kids are going to feel left out, especially when they reach elementary school and hear classmates discussing their elves. I also worry that somehow not having an elf will eventually correlate to Santa not being real... am I overthinking? Lol

If you don't do this tradition, have your kids felt left out? Has it taken away the magic of Santa when they find out about other childrens elves? How do you explain why your household doesn't have one?