Let’s face it, as college students always looking for a reason to procrastinate, we often find ourselves spending at least some of our day scrolling through our Facebook newsfeed, uploading a picture on Instagram from the weekend outings, posting a new video to our snap story, or re-tweeting our favorite Twitter account. Regardless of which media outlet we prefer, these online accounts serve as an effective method to stay connected with various friends, both at home and abroad. However, I sometimes have to wonder if continuously choosing to use these outlets somehow takes away from the quintessential idea of “living in the moment.”
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely use my social media account as a way to document my memories with friends over the years, and I absolutely love it. But I have to wonder, if we constantly find ourselves grabbing our phones, trying to take the perfect picture to “Insta,” is it all really worth it? And in doing this, are we losing sight of enjoying our own personal moments that don’t necessarily need to be shared with the rest of our friends or followers? Too many times I will look at a restaurant and observe a couple sitting across from each other and instead of enjoying one another's company, they continue to keep their heads down, eyes peered at their phone screens.
At times, I feel as if accounts like Instagram and Facebook portray a perfect, impossible to achieve world where everyone chooses the best filter available and develops just the right caption to create the illusion of ideal happiness. Whether a picture can receive the right number of “likes” and, most importantly, who is doing the liking, can affect a person’s mood.
I’m not arguing that we should cease our activity on these accounts, but my intent is to provide a reminder that life moves quickly, and if we devote too much time to editing our pictures or counting our followers, we might just miss the little moments that make our lives special, no filter necessary.
