It may seem counter-intuitive to many of you that someone who writes for a social media platform had the desire to delete all her social media accounts. At first, that’s what I thought too. Given that I receive a fair amount of article inspiration from seeing what people are posting/interested in through social media, would I even be able to write engaging articles?
You don’t have to take an information studies class to know that the information age of technology has completely taken over the world. Regardless of age, occupation, or personal desire in technology, we have all become victims of this new media age, and it seems that there is no way to escape it.
For many, we have become so accustomed to updating our Facebook profile pictures and posting weekly Instagram photos that we actually don’t see the problem with social media. We enjoy its presence, we like seeing what people are posting/doing, and most importantly, we can’t imagine living without it.
I had been preaching to myself and friends of mine for far too long that I believe social media is ridiculously overrated, and yet, I continued to use it. I constantly checked my Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat applications when I was bored before class and I even posted the occasional few photos.
Still, I decided that it was time to go on an official social media cleanse, and the results were unsurprising.
Not only did I find myself less distracted during class time, but I actually found that I have been significantly more productive throughout the day. The moments before class that used to be filled with mindlessly scrolling through my feeds became moments to review before an exam, get ahead on the readings, and start that class paper.
OK, so no, it’s not all-that-surprising that I became more productive after my social media cleanse, but my hidden intrigue in my experiment came from the amount of self-confidence I felt after turning away from my screen.
As a 21-year-old woman, it is no secret that there is a lot of subliminal messaging out in the world about how I should look, what I should wear, and the types of things that qualify as “attractive” or a “solid photo.” Still, in my escape from social media, I have come to find that I am surprisingly more comfortable on the days when I go to class on 3 hours of sleep, and I don’t worry so much about having that late-night snack of popcorn or Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Sure, social media may be a prominent part of our lives, but that doesn’t mean we have to give it consistent power over how we go about our daily routines.
I’m not saying that I’m not going to download various applications and create accounts again, I most certainly am, but the kinds of people I friend/follow and the types of photos I post are not going to fall into the category of “should.”
I have concluded that being consumed with images and posts on my feeds of people that I don’t know has not contributed much to my health and well-being. In fact, if anything, it has caused an internal struggle to identify who I am.
Every social media account we create is our own personal brand. We choose what we post and say based on how we want the world to perceive us. But what if strangers, those random kids from class, and your mom's hair dresser weren’t viewing your social media feed? Would it change what you posted?
The answer is up for you to decide. Think carefully.
For now, happy posting my fellow social media-ers!