Is social media eating up our time?

We all dedicate a lot of ourselves to be a student here. It takes, time, money, energy and a great deal of effort to be in class on time, read the assigned text, and turn in assignments when due. Being a college student is no easy task, and it would stand to reason that anyone who invests that much of themselves into something of value and reward, would do all that was necessary to finish strong.

I have found myself struggling lately to get my homework done, make it to work and school on time, and basically, get done all of the daily responsibilities I have. I know time management for me is a big problem. So I sat down to do some critical thinking and see if I can find areas of my life to save time.

I did a play by play process of my day, from waking up and showering, to stopping to put gas in my car and all the in between. At first, it seemed as though there was not much I could do to save time. I mean I was doing everything I had to do in order to run efficiently and it just didn't seem like there was much to change, until however, I added one more thought into the equation.

I realized that with all those activities I take part in, there is this one thing I do along with them that actually takes up quite a bit of my time: social media!

I drive and, yes I'm guilty of looking on Facebook. I read the assigned chapter for a class I'm in, but I get a little bored after a while and get on Instagram. I put gas in my car all the time, and it takes some patience to fill up--- patience I don't have--- so I get my phone out and start snap chatting, which normally means it'll be a while before I realize the gas pump quit when my car hit the full marker. Thinking about this had me wondering how much time I waste by being on social media. Doing everything I had to get done took some extra unnecessary time because I was on my phone in almost every scenario.

So I tried a little experiment. I deactivated my social media for one week to see what the results would be. At first, it felt like I was going through shock. I would reach for my phone so many times before realizing there was nothing to do on it anymore. It became just a phone again, rather than an entertainment outlet.

I started to notice that I was on time getting to where I needed to be. It was a little easier and quicker to get through homework without that distraction. There was even a level of stress that was gone knowing I didn't have to respond or post back to certain things I was accustom to being communicative about.

It feels pretty safe for me to say that social media definitely was taking more of my time than I realized. Each task I take on now goes faster and smoother because I could focus on my dedication to that one thing without any outside distractions, and not the numerous social media accounts I had.

If you find yourself feeling lacking on time, then maybe you too should consider if social media is what is eating up your time!