Social media has been around for as long as I can remember. Even before Facebook and Twitter, teens were connecting through MySpace and AIM messenger. It’s hard to imagine a world without access to almost all information at any time. But there was a time where “LOL” actually meant that you were laughing out loud and “ROFL” meant you were LOL-ing even harder. But when did we cross the line from friendly interaction to utter and absolute obsession? When did there become an incessant need to broadcast your life on a social platform? Somehow, we found a way to turn such an ingenious and revolutionary convenience into a monster that is slowly tearing our generation apart.
Earlier in the year, I had such a realization, a realization that this “monster” created by social media had complete control over me. I found that every second I was alone, I was more interested in what was happening on Snapchat than the conversation going on just downstairs between my family members. But I never truly understood the impact social media had on my life until I decided to allow myself to take a step back. I permanently deleted my Instagram and Snapchat accounts on a limb one night. It wasn’t until I went three months without social media that I finally understood its general impact.
At first, I wondered how I was even going to be benefiting from deleting the accounts. Initially, I deleted my apps rather than my accounts because judging from my indecisive nature, I wasn’t sure I was even going to last more than a few days. But I found that without the constant need to keep tabs on the media, I was filling my time with something even more valuable. I inevitably spent a lot of time alone. I started a journal for the first time in my life and I started writing poetry in my free time. Now, instead of mindlessly scrolling through my news feeds, I was doing something that would be worthwhile and that I loved. After a few weeks, I permanently deleted my accounts, but after three months, I reluctantly decided to start publicizing my life again with a fresh start.
We live in a world where you’re shunned for speaking to a stranger on a bus. And god forbid you don't have your phone to scroll through while your dinner date goes to the bathroom. My hope was that without social media, I would be able to indulge in the genuine conversations that I craved. Perhaps without it, my ability to talk to strangers and hold a conversation would increase exponentially. Of course that was only the hope. The reality was a certain boredom that could only be quenched by self-fulfillment. I hoped to gain a better grasp of society, but instead I gained a better grasp of myself. This was fine, but it only took me so far. I felt almost forced to go back to social media because without it, I was alone. It came to my realization that there was no turning back. The social media phenomenon would be here to stay, but if everyone were to make a small effort to actually speak to one another, us millennials could be connecting through something other than Instagram and Snapchat.
