I recently reflected on how much time I spend on my phone and social media in general. It is unreal! I realized that I spend way too much time on social media and on my phone in general, so about a week ago, I decided to remove Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram from my phone. Just this week I can see the change in me and how I view social media. I installed Messenger back because I was bombarded with people messaging me. I am still getting all my notifications on Facebook and Messenger; it’s just from Chrome from my phone. So I answered everyone and uninstalled it. I also recently re-installed Twitter too. The first thing I saw on my timeline was about a tragedy that happened very close to me. I got to hear everyone’s opinions and perspectives on it before I heard the whole story. I still have not heard the whole story because I have learned now that I don’t need to know the full story about anyone or anything. Social media has given us the mentality that we need to know everything that’s going on in people’s lives the instant it goes on. People feel the need to post vague status updates and beg for attention. I did this when I was in high school when I first got a Facebook in 2006. I don’t post stuff like that anymore because I learned that no one really cares about those kinds of posts. I learned this lesson in high school, but some adults on Facebook still make me roll my eyes because they have not learned this lesson. I personally only share more positive stuff on my Facebook. I sometimes even ask myself before I want to post or share something if my mom would want to read it because my Mom is friends with me on Facebook. Now, my Twitter is completely different. I’m a little less censored on there. My Tumblr account was the worst; I no longer use it from blogging, I just sit for three hours and look at Pretty Little Liars theories. I’ve learned also that we need to be careful about what we post on social media and about what we are tagged in because people like employers actually look at that. I’ve not been affected by that, but that picture of you drunk on the floor may not be the first thing you want your employer looking at.

It’s scary how much time we spend on our phones. No one sits down at dinner and catches up with their friends anymore, it’s all through text messaging and Facebook. Sometimes, we may sit at dinner and talk instead of texting but no one interacts with each other anymore. We scroll through Facebook and show each other all the funny memes. Now we don’t even know how to interact with anyone anymore without a phone in our face. This only increases the social anxiety problem we have in our society. It’s scary. I’m not saying Facebook does not have its perks because it does. I can see pictures of cute dogs and babies of my friends from far away and get other status updates from friends and family. I was just tired of knowing everyone’s business all the time. I’ve had so many people ask me this week if I saw so-and-so’s post on Facebook and I politely tell them no, I haven’t because I don’t have Facebook on my phone anymore.

This experience has seriously changed me. I still can access Facebook from my laptop but I’m not going to spend three hours on Facebook like I did in the span of a day. Instagram I also find that my phone runs a lot faster. I only have a Samsung S4 Galaxy Active, so my old phone needs all the help it can get (because a phone that is two years old is now considered an old phone.) I installed a Tetris game in its place and I play that a lot. I play a lot more Pokémon GO, and that is all the interaction with people I need. I think everyone should re-evaluate how much time they spend on Facebook and social media in general. Even after a week, I’m still not going to install Facebook yet. I want to take a little more time away from it, with the exception of my articles posting! See you guys on the flip side!