As I sat in class daydreaming about being at home and scrolling through Twitter, I kept thinking about what my mom would do if she saw me right now. I could hear her say, “Rachael, we don’t pay for you to tweet. Get off your phone and learn some Italian."
On a typical day at college, I would just continue to flip through my social media until class was over, then text my friends on the way to the dining hall where I would sit and look at my phone until I slowly meandered to my next class.
In this day and age, everyone has their phone glued to them at all times. Don’t disagree because you are not only lying to me but you are lying to yourself as well. It’s sad to think about really. Maybe it’s because I was feeling homesick or because the tuition bill came out this week and I was just starting to realize how much tuition costs, but for some reason my (imaginary) mom ringing in my ears stuck with me that day. I held down my home screen and in two seconds all my social media apps where gone (except Snapchat because I’m not about to lose my 233-day streak with my BFF). It’s a little weird not having social media on my phone, but it was eye opening for sure!
On the first day I reached for my phone many times before I finally remembered I didn’t really have a reason to. As I was going to sleep, I didn’t know what to do. My nighttime ritual is checking Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, and then repeating that for an hour or so. I talked to my roommate about the terrible mistake I made earlier that day, read every Snapchat discovery story and opened the app store tempted to download my apps multiple times.
“Why did I do this?” I said nearly every minute. What if I miss something important? What if Lamar relapses? What is happening with Blake and Gwen? What if I miss an event invite or a T-shirt sale? I had some serious fear of missing out (also known as FOMO). Not being able to take it any longer, I jumped on my laptop and logged into Facebook -- a moment of defeat I’m not proud of. Let me tell you what I learned from this very challenging week of using my phone for only texts, calls and emails.
The world is so pretty. I started looking at where I was walking. I started watching the sunsets, not through the camera on my phone, but in real life. It was awesome. I was missing so much by looking down at my phone all day! Just walking from class to class I saw posters for clubs, plays and other really cool things I hadn’t noticed before. I was missing out on so much in the real world because I was afraid I would miss something in the cyber world.
FOMO is real, but totally stupid. I worried for the first day I was missing out on something, but then I thought about it and realized if I miss something because I didn’t see a tweet, was it really that important? If my friends were going I would know, and if they weren’t going I didn’t really need to know. The fear of missing out began to fade each day, and after the third day I didn’t even think about it. I was happy without my social media.
Social media is a trap. I wish I recorded the looks I got when I told people I deleted my social media apps. Everyone stared at me like I just said I had a pet unicorn. I learned this week that I don’t need social media. I don’t need to feel cool based on how many likes I get (I know I’m cool regardless). It was sad to see people so shocked that I was living without the apps that make so many of our worlds go round. Once you start your accounts, you really get sucked in. They keep offering you more things, having you follow more people or adding more friends -- they suck you in and don’t let you out. I got three emails from Facebook this week telling me, “Your friends are posting with out you,” and, “We haven’t seen you in a few days! Log back in." It’s almost like a cult and we give them everything they need to contact us: our email, cell phone, home phone, work phone, pager, probably our social security numbers and our first-born children. They ask for so much when we first sign up and we all just willingly give it to them.
We let social media define and control us. We all fell into the same trap. We all know what it’s like to post on Instagram and not get as many likes as you thought or be jealous of the girl who got more likes than you. I can’t tell you how many times I have deleted a photo because my friend posted the same one and she got more likes than me. It is embarrassing really. I stopped letting social media define me this week. I know that my friends like me so why do I care if people I don’t even care for, like my picture or not? It doesn’t matter. I could have the best time ever and only get six likes; the amount of "likes" shouldn’t change the great time I just had. People are too self-conscious as it is, and social media is just feeding their self-consciousness. I’m embarrassed to have fallen into the trap and to have let social media change the way I act.
People put up fronts. For sure I am way funnier than my social media leads you to believe. I think of funny tweets all the time but I don’t tweet them because I think someone will think I’m stupid. If there is one thing I learned this week it is to not put up a front, but to instead let your crazy self shine. If you love that selfie you just took, post it! If you love something totally gross, post it! Just post what you feel and don’t worry about what people think. I know the first thing you do to someone you just met is stalk them on social media, but how will you know what they are really like if they tweet, “I love Tim McGraw,” because their friends were listening to him in the car, but they really hate McGraw and don’t know any of his songs. That tweet is a little misleading and you have just built a friendship from a lie; that friendship is going to fail.
I am so happy my (imaginary) mom influenced me to delete these apps. I paid attention in class, I had real conversations, I enjoyed meals and I slept better. I am happy that I learned I don’t need social media everyday. I really recommend everyone deleting their apps. Think about how much fun you used to have with your friends before everyone had a phone. You talked and played, but now you get together and sit in silence while everyone is on their phone. Of course when something funny does happen we have them repeat it for the Snapchat story so you get to relive it about seven times, but still, that is not a very fun life if you ask me. Now I’m not saying I hate social media. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Instagram post, but I am saying we need to stop letting it define and control us.
I had the time of my life this week just doing what I wanted. I didn’t feel like I constantly needed to check something like I have felt in the past. I did what I wanted and I didn’t worry about what my friends from the fourth grade were tweeting about. I enjoy my time with my friends more now and I think everyone should tell their apps, "Bye bye," and just try it out for a week like I did. I promise your life will change, and you won’t even want to download the apps again.
