I am someone who has always loved social media. Because I spent so much of my childhood at sleepaway camp and youth group, I had many friends in different states, and always saw social media as an amazing way to keep in touch with people across the country. During my Freshman year, it was an especially amazing way for me to stay updated on my friends’ lives and keep my friends updated on mine. That is until I realized that sometimes what I see on social media doesn’t match up with reality.
It’s so easy to open Snapchat and see someone’s 50-second long story on a Friday night and get jealous that they had a more fun night that you. In a similar sense, it’s easy to just post a pic on Instagram smiling with people, and make your followers think that you have friends. When I was homesick last Fall, none of my friends from home knew because I constantly updated my Snapchat story and posted pics on Instagram.
It is incredibly easy to create an entire façade on social media, and trick people into thinking that you are someone that you are not. In theory, you can Snapchat a picture of a wine bottle on a weeknight and make everyone think that you’re turning up when you aren’t. In fact, a lot of my friends last year would post pictures on weekend nights so our high school friends would assume that we were having fun in college. On a similar note, when you upload a picture in the Bullseye and people will think you go out a lot. Snap a picture of a textbook and people will commend you for being studious. Upload a Facebook album for the year with tons of different people in it, and your FB friends will think you’re having a great time in college. Contrary to whatever reality may be, social media has the power to truly create any image you’d like to portray of yourself.
To put that to the test, I decided to go off social media for the week. I deleted the apps off of my phone, put a lock on Facebook on my computer, and went off the grid. It was something that I had been meaning to do for a while but never got around to doing because it seemed like much too big a sacrifice. However, it was getting to the point where I felt like I was living a lie on social media. As weird as it sounded, I felt like I wasn’t being truthful if I was having a bad day but posted an Instagram picture that made it look like I was happy. The reality was, as happy as I am to be back at Kenyon, I am incredibly exhausted with work and extracurricular activities, and posting on Snapchat a picture of me laughing with friends doesn’t capture that feeling.
At first, I felt serious FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). All of my friends at lunch would go on Snapchat and check on what everyone was doing, and I would just sit there. I realized that social media was a fundamental component of life for people my age. Before bed, I usually go on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. When I decided to quit social media for a week, I found that, suddenly, I had nothing to do before going to bed—so I started reading. On my walks to Peirce, I would usually go on social media, but instead, I put headphones in or just looked around me. I was quicker with my homework because I didn’t have anything to distract me. I had no idea where anyone was because I wasn’t checking their Snapchat stories. I wasn’t aware of whether anyone was going out on Wednesday, who was in the library, what events were going on. And honestly, it felt amazing.
I realized how much we share on social media. My friends from home asked me if I saw a post on Facebook from someone we went to high school with. My friends here asked if I wanted to go to a certain party that I didn’t know about because I didn’t get a notification on Facebook for the event. I went to Columbus this week but no one knew because I didn’t upload it to my story. No one knew about my day unless I actively told them about it.
Do I think we share too much on social media? Yes. Do I think we often tend to make personas for ourselves on social media that don’t necessarily portray us as who we really are? Definitely. Is this a bad thing? Up to you to decide. I think what is ultimately important is to realize that reality is reality and Facebook is Facebook. It doesn’t really matter if your album on Facebook makes it look like your freshman year is rocking if you’re actually miserable in real life. Personally, during my freshman year, all my friends from home thought I was having an amazing time when in reality I wanted to transfer up until thanksgiving break.
However, I do think that social media is an amazing gift. To be able to keep in touch with friends across the country is wonderful. To have ways to convey information to tons of people with just the click of a button is inconceivable to me. So I think that the key to social media is to be thoughtful in the way you utilize it. Do you really need to post that picture of a Keystone at an Old K party so people know you went out? Personally, I knew I cared less about what I was doing during the week when I wasn’t exposed to every other person’s life updates on Snapchat and Instagram. Because, ultimately, there is no wrong way to live life in college—social media just tends to make it seem like there is.
My break from social media was a choice I made because I was getting anxious being exposed too much to everyone else’s lifestyle choices. And during that break, I really appreciated my wee and the choices I made, the things I did, and the people I hung out with. I have to say, though: I love social media. I love posting pictures on Facebook, knowing that my grandma in West Virginia and my childhood friend alike can both see that picture. I enjoy receiving Snapchats from my sister who lives in Boston or seeing how my high school friends who are now first-years in college are settling in.
I’ve made rules new rules for myself. Whereas before I would check Instagram incessantly, or add snaps to my story on the hour, I’m a bit more reserved. I personally think it’s important to be a little conservative on social media, and think thoughtfully about what you’re posting and what it says about you. Do I post that Snapchat story so all of my friends at Kenyon know that I was up at 1 am on Saturday at an NCA party? Or do I Instagram a picture of me with my friends at an apple orchard because it was a beautiful day and I wanted to share a fun thing that I did, and possibly inspire others to get out into nature? If anything, this week off the grid taught me to be more thoughtful with social media, to be cautious when it starts to become an obsession and to remember that a screen does not run my life.
Image credits: Giphy.com, Snapchat