Currently in my writing class, we are all working on an extensive 12-15 page research paper on top of all other school work we have. Usually during class, we discuss where we should be in our paper and how our research is going. Today was a little different. Dr. N has been my favorite teacher so far in my three semesters of college because he understands what we, as his students, are going through in our lives better than any teacher I have had before. In class today, we took a break from talking about our paper and discussed a foreign term to people my age, mindfulness.
If you were a college student who got asked to put down their phone and social media for a day or two, could you do it? Out of the studies I have seen, an average of 30% of our day is wasted on social media. That is almost 8 hours of our day gone. Imagine what you can do in 8 hours. That is a full day of work. When people in my class were asked what do they use social media for the main answer was a distraction from the real world stresses. My teacher then pulled up a study he found based on this election that said that 55% percent of stress in people these days comes some form of social media.
So what does mindfulness have to do with this? When we are on our phones or looking at social media we aren't being consciously aware of what's around us and we are making ourselves stressed. If people had the courage to put their phone down a few hours a day, we as a society will be more engaged with each other and with ourselves. Dr. N brought up the "Fight or Flight" nervous system. Because of the nature of social media and how it can be a source of news, when we are on social media, our body tells us that we are in fight or flight mode causing unnecessary stress. If you at least split your social media time in half and use the other have to take time for yourself, you will find yourself in a more aware state of being. Being more self aware allows us to be more productive in our day (which relieves most of the stress we have) and helps us create more personal relationships with ourselves and people we come into contact with.
My task to you is put your phone down for a few hours or few days. Take a few minutes out of those hours to focus on yourself and get away from the outside world by going for a walk or study for that test, without looking at your phone. Getting that A and the moments of finding yourself are the ones that will matter days, weeks, or years later, not who liked that photo or status you posted. Those are just pixels floating in the air. They are nothing and You are something.
