Going to a concert, a trip to the beach or mountains, or even a trip to the mall often end up documented on social media. It is the reason most of us check our accounts every morning, often before we even get out of bed. We want to know what the people around us are doing and who they are with. I will never discourage social media use and its importance to the way we communicate today. I will encourage you to try and use it as an afterthought.
So many people, myself included, walk into an event and think “Oh, we could a great picture there.” or “This is a great time to take a boomerang.” I want us all to be more present in the things that we do. I want to live in the moment, not record it. If your phone is in your hand, your head and heart aren’t where you are. When we get bored we start to scroll instead of starting conversations.
As human beings, we are social creatures. We were made to interact with one another and social media has made it easier to interact with people in a lot of different ways. It also has stunted the way we interact person to person. I cannot tell you how many times I have used my phone to get out of interacting with the people around me. Swiping through social media makes a barrier from the rest of the world.
I know the idea of giving up social media during the day seems hard and sharing our lives is more important than the likes we receive or number of views. It is a record of our lives and documentation of the interactions that we have. My only wish that instead of taking thirty minutes to take the perfect pic for the gram, that you take the blurry candid and spend the rest of the night enjoying your friends and the experience. I want you to take the ten minutes before class and choose to talk to the kid that sits next to you and not look at yesterday’s stories. I want you to read a book, draw, or take a walk; in place of checking your social media accounts once a day.
Just give it a try and see if it makes a difference, because I guarantee it will. May the memories you make be happy and full.