If Halloweekend isn't the best weekend of the year, then I really don't know what is. It's one of those weekends you spend the entire month looking forward to. There is no way to not have fun during this weekend, and if you're not capturing every crazy moment of costumes galore, there's something wrong. That's why when I was glued to my phone Friday night, checking up on my Instagram comments and scrolling through multiple social media feeds, I vowed I would put it away before I went out.
Well, that didn't work.
In my defense, I had valid excuses to have my phone Friday night. Two of my friends stayed in while the others went out, and even though I was one of the ones going out, I planned on meeting the friends who stayed in for late-night food on campus. In general, it is overall a safer option to keep your phone on you. You never know when there could be an emergency. There we go: a valid excuse to have my phone on-hand. However, not a valid excuse to stare at the screen more than I did the friendly faces in front of me.
Night two, Saturday night, I promised myself I'd leave my phone at home after the picture taking and Instagramming moments.
Well, that also didn't work.
That's when it hit me how glued millennials are to their phones. Yes, we are technically glued to the social interactions that our cell phones give us, but we are so focused on those behind the screen interactions instead of the real interactions in front of us. Everyone is guilty of doing this. If you look around you while walking to campus, you will see the familiar motion of someones thumb scrolling the screen of their iPhone. Social media hasn't only taken away our ability to purely enjoy life and live in the moment, it's also taken away our appreciation of the events itself.
Think about it, did you really go out if you didn't check in at the location on Facebook?
Was that really your opinion if you didn't tweet about it?
Did you really go out to eat if the picture of your food wasn't posted on Snapchat first?
How thoughtful was the "happy birthday" for your friend if you didn't write a paragraph long caption on Instagram for them?
Social media has gave us limitless benefits: we can stay in touch with those far away, we can connect with others through common interest, network with professionals and build potential careers. By no means am I saying social media is the root of all evil, but even a good thing can be ruined by abusing it. Without even realizing it, it is very possible for someone to get lost in the digital world and spend more time in a day behind the screen rather than in front of it.
Maybe one day I will have enough willpower to put down the device. If not, there is always the option of forcing myself to get a pager. Hopefully it won't resort to that.