In today’s world, being connected seems to be of utter importance to most people. Social media has some value, but it can also lead to feeling alone or alienated. People are substituting social media for face-to-face interaction. Here are some signs that you may want to unplug or reduce your social media time.
1. Typically, the first thing you do when you wake up is check your social media sites.
Before you even give your eyes a chance to get used to the light, you’re already reaching for your phone to check for new notifications and updates that may have happened while you were sleeping.
2. You have a hard time finishing a meal without picking up your phone and checking it.
Finishing a meal becomes harder and harder, due to your phone, because you don’t want to miss anything that is going on in the cyber world. You almost feel like you’re out of the loop if you put your phone down for more than 15 minutes.
3. When you run to the bathroom during class, you use those few seconds to browse through sites.
You may not actually have to go to the bathroom. Maybe you just want a few minutes to check your phone and get away from your current situation.
4. You use your phone in socially awkward situations.
Awkward situations happen every day, and pulling up your phone during that awkward encounter may distract you from that painfully awkard situation.
5. When you’re bored, you rely on your phone to entertain you.
Instead of going for a walk or reading, you decide to waste your time browsing through social media and “creeping”on people you may not even know.
6. At stop signs or traffic lights, you check the home screen of your phone, just in case you have a new update.
You may be anxious for a certain text or notification, so every chance you get to stop and look down at our phone, you’re gonna take.
7. Every image you take has to be edited and uploaded to social media, immediately.
You want everyone to know what you’re doing and that you are having the time of your life, so what better way to do that than take a selfie with your friends!
8. Social media keeps you from doing more productive things, such as, studying for a test or finishing your homework that is due in 5 minutes.
You continue to stress and talk about how much work you have to do, but yet you find yourself browsing through Facebook or even end up on sites that you don’t normally go on to avoid all of your unfinished work.
9. You pride yourself on how many “likes” or “retweets” you get on a post.
You feel extremely good about yourself when an image or tweet that you posted receives a lot of attention.
10. You feel like you are being tortured when you don’t have access to the Internet.
There is nothing worse than having very slow cell service or even no cell service at all. You feel like you’re missing out on exciting information.