A Week Without Social Media

Social media has been an essential part of my day for years now and the idea of challenging myself to go twenty-four hours without any type of new media genuinely made me uncomfortable. The amount of media use I logged for a single day was enough to make me question my priorities and reveal that I possibly have a severe case of F.O.M.O (Fear Of Missing Out). Questions of self-doubt like, “How am I going to do this? How will I stay connected to my friends?” circulated through my head. Scrolling through Instagram or Twitter, my media’s of choice, has always been second nature to me, subconsciously opening those apps even when I have no purpose to be on them. Though I was hesitant to challenge myself to go without something

The truth is if social media was never invented we still may have found other ways to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. As we spend less time focusing on what’s going on outside in the real world than we do scrolling down our Facebook feeds we separate ourselves. It’s become a part of our everyday routine and, most people check their Facebook before they even have breakfast in the morning. Social media definitely didn’t help, but it is not the sole cause of isolation but, how we use it. If we were to use it how it was intended by making new connections, we wouldn’t feel so separated from the rest of the world.

Plenty of people miss valuable time that actually matters because of the distracting, network sites. Maureen Henderson, the author of the article “3 Reasons You Should Quit Social Media”, says, “189 million of Facebook users are ‘mobile only’, which means that people are constantly on their phone”(1). So not only does people waist valuable moments on the web, people can be messing up their lives by focusing on their phones, which they do bring everywhere. Henderson also states, “Almost a quarter

Social media is addictive. Tweet - #Addicted. Facebook – Like my selfie. Snapchat – Snap me. I found myself on a painful and destructible path that consumed my life, without realising that I too was playing that game of seeking external validation through social media. I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and realised - We should start living in the real world. We should banish living in virtual reality and become interactive with people again.

A study at Stanford University shows that people tend to “underestimate how many negative experiences their peers are having” and “overestimate how much fun those same peers are having” (592). Social Media lets people decide what they want their life to look like and how they want to portray themselves to others. The platforms allow one to put together bits and pieces of ones life in order to create a puzzle of optimism to hide the sadness they don’t want to show the world. “The site’s very design- the presence of a ‘Like’ button, without a corresponding ‘hate button’- reinforces a kind of upbeat spin doctoring” (592). Copeland says that even the design of the social media platforms encourages putting a positive spin on things that aren’t so attractive to the people on the other side of the computer. “The human habit of overestimating other peoples happiness is nothing new, of course” (591). While people will always look at others and see their happiness, and never their pain, Social networking gives a bigger platform for people to do so. In an everyday conversation at the grocery store, people tend to focus on the positive. It is no different on Facebook, other than the positive spin is done in larger

Are we abusing social media? Can we live without it for an hour or two? Is it a must to be on social media ever day? Or why can’t we just give it a break? On a normal school day, I wake up at 6:00am. Firstly, I give thanks to God for a brand-new day. Immediately after prayers, I search for my phone which is usual underneath my pillow or covers. I browser through my notification tabs to see what I missed while sleeping. After replying to all my notifications, I go onto snapchat and twitter to post my good morning

There’s this feeling, it's indescribable. You know it, I know it and evokes anxiety that consumes your mind. Your heart begins to race, your stomach begins to drop and you frantically race to fix this problem. In just a few moments your life feels over. You feel alone, in complete and utter despair, it’s like you’re in a chasm of intense loneliness and neglect. This feeling when the wifi disconnects. We can’t bear to stop scrolling to see what our ‘friends’ are doing, uploading, liking, reacting and commenting. After all, social media connects us. It brings the world a little closer, and yet, we’ve never been more disconnected to the world and the ones we love than now.

The ease with which people are able to share and communicate over the Internet has had the effect that people no longer feel the need to interact in with one another in person because they feel that everything they want to do can be done over the Internet. An example can be seen in “Connectivity and its Discontents”, where we are introduced to Randy (Turkle 621). Randy’s younger sister was recently engaged to be married, something that most people would consider a significant event. She and her fiance decided to make the announcement to their family and friends via e-mail, something that made Randy feel very far away from his sister emotionally. Social media can also have the effect that constantly updating our information and giving second by second updates on the ordinary events of our daily

From Clive Thompson’s article we can see how social media can completely change people, as they want to be liked by everyone. It is because we as people tend to care about what other people think of us. We want our Face book friends to like our pictures so you post pictures that wouldn’t describe yourself, like for example shy people posting “sexy selfies”. We tend to do that in order to get accepted by social media friends. “What’s really funny is that before this ‘social media’ stuff, I always said that I’m not the type of person who had a ton of friends” (Thompson-1).

Living in a world where social media is highly incorporated into our daily lives is associated with being detached from the things that matter, such as family, friends, and even human relationships in general. In 2016, Cal Newport pointed out in his article, “Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend On It”, from The New York Times, that people are now beginning to believe that social media may even take a toll on their career. On the contrary, I find it ironic that people claim to be victimized by social media when they are giving it authority over them and their lives by assuming they cannot stay in control of how they spend their time. If common people allow social media to take up valuable work time, then they are one of two things; careless of their job, or they feel as though they are not in charge of their life. I believe that social media cannot hurt a career unless the person using it gives it the power to do so. On the other hand, Newport believes that social media can “hurt your career” by making someone counterproductive.

It’s hard to believe, that only a decade ago social media took off and became the new trend. Of course, there was Friendster and Myspace that had been around for a few years but most of the world’s population hadn’t come around to it yet. Nowadays, social media has taken over our lives. It has influenced every decision we have made in life in one way or another.

Abigail logged into her Instagram account and poster her favorite picture of her and her best friends. She waited ten minutes and let the comments roll in. “Your so pretty!” “Beautiful… :)” “Omg your so cute!!” “Awww, I miss you guys!” Abigail then replied to every one of them, now feeling better than ever before. She felt way more confident in herself and appreciative of all the sweet comments her friends wrote. This shows how social media can help you become a better person, and it is worth the risk.

We should participate in “Shut Down Your Screen” week so we can have more time with our family and friends. We usually don’t talk to our family members because we always on our phones, not communicating face to face. For instance, in the article it states that social media is socially isolated. In the “No Vacation” passage, Mrs. and Mr. Campbell’s family rented a cottage for a family trip at the beach and at the aquarium,. So we dot talk to family or friends because we’re too busy on our phones scrolling though Instagram and checking recent status. We also should participate in “Shut Down Your Screen” week so we can be more active.

When I was 16 years old, I spent a summer at a Christian camp as a server. Although I was excited at first, I was nervous because while at the camp, you were not allowed to have your phone. The first couple days were hard, I struggled with the idea that I couldn’t talk to my friends all the time, but by the time the camp was over, I lost my desire to use my phone. Even after I left the camp, I began to use my phone less and less. I was able to put my phone down for hours at a time without having the desire or need to check on it. It wasn’t until college that I started to be on my phone all the time again. The fact that I was once again away from my friends and family created a constant desire to be on my phone to keep tabs on them. When I joined a sorority freshman year, all of our announcements and information about events were posted on facebook which made me redownload facebook and become addicted like I was in middle school. I am constantly checking all forms of social media several times a day because in my mind I am “in the know” and have a firm grasp of what is going on with my life. On Tuesday, November 14th I decided to download the app and have it track my media use for a few days before I did the social media fast. I found that I was on my phone for about 4 hours a day and had about 115 pickups. I wish I could say I was shocked, but because I am constantly checking facebook for sorority updates and talking to my friends via text and snapchat, I am not surprised

With the power of social media and the internet, we can connect globally in a way that was not possible before. Unfortunately, I do have to admit that it does take away a more personable interaction. Most people will connect with Facebook versus taking the time to see the person. For example, in the reading, “I’m Still Here: Back Online after a Year without the Internet” by Paul Miller, he said “It is the boredom and lack of stimulation that drives me to do things I really care about, like writing and spending time with others” (4). When we get bored, we want to do things we have never done before. The downside is, that there is people that rather kill that time on their devices. Rather than, cleaning their room or explore the world for those valuable 20 minutes they will text their life away. If everyone, was to go a month without the internet, the world would probably end. Everyone is so addicted to this new era of devices.