At my most recent frat party, you could find me dancing on an elevated surface, singing along to some old school Kanye song and thinking about how painful it would be to wake up the next morning. I was busting my best dance move when my friend got up on the elevated surface next to me and said, “Point at the camera and smile"...and I didn't even fight it. I stopped my dancing, my horrendous rapping and my state of being to pose for a picture.
Why is it that our generation feels the need to stop and document every single meal, frat party and selfie on social media? To show people how much fun we are having or how lavish our lives are?
Here are things that you (I hope) and I are totally guilty of saying.
1. “Do that again and I'll make it my Snapchat story."
Instead of being able to attend a fraternity's serenade for my sorority, I had to trap myself in the library and write a paper about Nigerian human rights violations (bummer, right?). But, I needn't worry! Everyone's Snapchat stories documented the entire serenade. Instead of watching these gentlemen gyrate their hips and sing "Uptown Funk," my sisters watched the whole serenade through the bright screen of their iPhone. I'm all for making your Snapchat story something funny, but do we ever pause and think why we do it, or if we could enjoy what is happening in the physical world instead of the tiny square we hold in our hands at all times?
2. “Please like my profile picture."
It's desperate, it's needy and it's for the likes. Everyone, and I mean everyone, feels self-conscious when they change their profile picture. This is the first thing that people, like potential crushes or employers, see when they Facebook-stalk you. You have to impress both parties. People seem to think the number of likes correlates with how many friends you have. Is this true? To some extent. But, wouldn't you rather have someone who actually “likes" your profile picture like it, instead of someone who is doing it so you get more likes? Wouldn't that make the like more meaningful?
3. “I'm only going out for the Instagram."
It's a Tuesday night. You're wearing sweats, your hair is in a greasy bun and you are avoiding studying for your accounting exam that is looming over your head. Your friend texts you that your favorite frat is having an open party and suddenly you're running to throw on Litas and some skinny jeans... to pose for a picture in front of the frat's letters painted onto the wall. You post the picture with the caption, “Club going up on a Tuesday" and you feel accomplished... until you bomb your midterm the next day. Were the 200 likes on your Instagram really worth the F? I sure hope not.
In life, and especially in college, it is so easy to get sucked into the need to show off everything you're doing all of the time. I'm putting myself out there. I am totally and utterly guilty of this, but I'm going to challenge myself to put the phone down. I'm going to challenge myself to immerse myself in conversation, to sing those Kanye lyrics without looking them up on Google and to truly live life without looking through the lens.
...unless I get distracted on my way to class and stop to Snapchat the roses.
