False alarm. Well, not completely. With Lent coming up, I've decided that I'm going to give up social media. And the first time I am truly giving something up for Lent, it's going to be something as big as saying goodbye to my Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. For all believers in the Christian faith, if God could sacrifice his son for the sins of mankind, I should be able to forget about my social media outlets for 40 days, right? Well yes, one might think that a task like that one is simple, easy. But it's much harder than it seems, because our generation is addicted to social media. I've been asked why I'm on social media outlets so frequently and I never have a concrete answer. I think to myself- I like it, it's interesting to see what other people are up to, there are lots of cool photos on Instagram, I want to stay updated with the world, I don't want to feel left out. And after all of those thoughts and possible answers run through my head, one final answer comes to my mind. Maybe I'm addicted.
My feelings about social media are mixed; we have a love/hate relationship. Social media is great for promoting brands, companies, and multiple other things. It allows you to communicate with people from different parts of the world, and it keeps you involved in what's going on in the world. But is social media as great as we make it out to be? I know people who have allowed social media to take over their entire life. It's as if they are living in a separate world, creating a world that is distant from their current reality. In this very moment I am currently checking my Snapchat, but why? Why do I feel the need to keep up with everyone else I know? Why do I feel the need to see what others are doing when they probably don't have a care in the world about what is going on in my life? We constantly check up on other people through social media, but what people don't realize is that if someone wanted to know how you were doing or what was going on in your life, they wouldn't click a few times to get to your Instagram profile; instead, they would give you a call or shoot you a text. If someone actually cares about you, they'll make it clear. Instagram followers are called "friends," but are they really our "friends"? People throw that term around so loosely that being a friend to someone doesn't mean as much as it used to. People assume that if someone posts a picture on Instagram smiling, they must be doing okay. But none of that is true -- the image we create for ourselves on our social media outlets doesn't always tell our full story. It's not a complete representation of our lives and who we are. And it's just shocking that people have more "friends" on social media than they do in real life. Sorry, I said it -- in real life, because social media outlets are only what we want them to be. They are a way for us to build our identity and a separate world, and often times pull us away from the world we are living in -- reality.
And yes, there probably are reasons why social media is beneficial-- it allows us to express ourselves, to build relationships, to explore what's going on in the world around us, but personally, I think that social media in particular (not technology in general) pulls us away from reality and the appreciation of the real world. So, I've made a promise to myself-- No social media for 40 days, to see how the quality of my life will change. Maybe I'll appreciate the people and world around me more or maybe I'll miss seeing what other people are up to. I'll let you know how it goes, but here are the five main reasons why I'm quitting social media (for now).
1. More looking up, less looking down.
By looking down at our phones we are missing out on what's happening in the world around us. By trying to keep up with everyone else, we aren't living our own lives to the fullest.
2. Less validation, more confidence.
Lots of people look to social media for confidence -- having people "like" a picture they post makes them feel good about themselves, but we shouldn't need anyone else's validation to know our worth and beauty.
3. Less lounging, more being active.
By being so involved in scrolling down our feeds and constantly checking our notifications, we are missing out on things that involve actual movement and activity. Going to the gym or for a walk on a warm spring day is much more productive than lounging around on our phones.
4. More genuineness, less artificiality.
Social media tends to be artificial. The relationships people have over social media are not as genuine and real as relationships people have in real life, through physical interaction. There are also cases where people don't act the same way on social media as they do in their everyday life. Sometimes we aren't the real us on social media.
5. I want to live my life, instead of watching others live theirs.
Completely giving up social media sounds a little unrealistic to me, because I use social media to promote my writing and express myself, in the same way that other people do. But my main goal this Lent is to stray away from my social media outlets as much as possible. Posting an occasional photo or promoting my writing is okay, but I want to find it within myself to fight the need to constantly check in on what everyone else is doing or posting. I want to live my life and experience it to the fullest, and being obsessed with social media outlets will only pull me away from reality. I'm allowing myself to post a picture once in a while, but I most definitely won't use my outlets as much as I do now. So I won't be deleting my social media or anything like that. I'm sure I'll go back to using it a little more frequently, but by detaching myself from it for a while, I'll be able to appreciate life more than social media could ever teach me to.
