I didn’t realize how much social media played a role in my life.
Every year for a week, I spend 10 days, give or take, with 120 women in my sorority, preparing for formal recruitment.
Part of our rules at the University is to remain off social media, which means deactivating our Twitter and Facebook, logging out and setting our Instagram to private, deleting Snapchat and resisting the urge to pin boards on Pinterest.
The idea is to remove these items, so potential new members don’t search for us while trying to make their decision and remove biased decisions on stereotypes from the table.
I went through a few stages of loss:
1. Confusion
I deactivated and after the first few hours, I caught myself trying to log in to Twitter – thankfully it didn’t automatically sign in. The first day or two, I checked my phone constantly to see if I had any notifications.
2. Anger
I didn’t realize how much I actually relied on social media to connect with people. It’s sad, really. I use it to get notifications about my sorority, my old college dorm, what’s for sale in my town, how my family is doing, and I even relied on it to stay connected with stuff going on at work.
3. Okay-ness
I wanted Sunday to come because I wanted so badly to post all my recruitment photos and check Twitter. I was impatient and twiddled my thumbs, but really after about day 3 or 4 of no social media, I felt fine. I almost forgot about it and even didn’t want to reactivate it.
As a generation, society relies on social media to connect with people and to feel that sense of belonging. I, like many others in my generation, always have a phone in hand, own two forms of laptop or tablet, and an e-book. I spent most of my time with my phone glued to my hand, texting, calling, and checking social media. But if I learned anything from this strange anomaly of missing something, I kind of wished I didn’t have to reactive it.
Drama, chatter, rumors, and all emotions are portrayed online. And checking into that everyday can, subconsciously, add some stress and anxiety to a person.
Not checking that and not feeling the need to be checked in was a pretty okay feeling that I think everyone should learn to appreciate.
I for one am back on social media; if it weren’t for the communication between organizations and work, I might not have reactivated it. I definitely learned a lesson about getting wrapped up in the drama of online life. I can appreciate the quietness a little more.
