I have a love/hate relationship with all platforms of social media: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook. On the one hand, I enjoy seeing my friends and family update their feed with news, whether it’s major or minor. I love seeing college announcements from old friends in high school or how my other friends are enjoying their lives now. I love social media but hate how my feed is now cluttered with sponsored posts and how easily it can drain up my time.
Social media is free, but my time is not. When I sit down to see a couple people’s stories on Instagram, I end up sitting there for an hour. An hour I could have been using for productivity. How many of you check your social media platforms right before you go to bed and again right as you wake up (I know I do…)?
Do you think our society has a problem? How many people do you see in your day to day life looking at their social media instead of enjoying the day around them? Whether it’s standing in line waiting for their coffee, eating dinner at a nice restaurant, or hanging out with a group of friends, there is always someone on their phone checking their social media. Sometimes, I am one of these people, and it’s concerning. Instead of looking on our phones for social connections, let’s try strengthening relationships with the people around us. Instead of blindly looking at your social media while eating a meal with your friends or family, put your phone down and actually see how they are doing.
Yes, social media can be a great way to stay in touch with friends you don’t get to see on a day-to-day basis but it can also be an easy distraction to waste time and make you lose track of your surroundings and your priorities. The little things in life, like my sister asking if we can go sit outside and listen to music, is something I don’t want to look back on and realize I was too busy staring at my phone to enjoy that moment with her.
I always say I don’t want to look back and realize I lived life through my phone screen. In such uncertain times like these, it can be easy to turn to social media to try to keep social connections alive. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it turns into a bad thing when it starts consuming your entire day. Take a day, and go on a social media detox, or sit outside and read a book with your phone on silent (or even inside), spend some time with your family. All of these are great ways to stay connected and busy without falling into the social media trap.