The inception of the fall semester occurred almost two weeks ago and already, I have been swamped with a various amount of reading. Even though reading is tedious, I was fortunate enough to have read an interesting article [as a requirement for my writing class] entitled "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" The article is written by Stephen Marche and his thesis presents the idea that in today's society, Americans are lonelier than ever and Facebook (as well as other social networking sites) further aids in this loneliness. The article was thought-provoking -- it established both sides of the argument and ultimately let the reader decide whether to agree or disagree with the claim. After reading the article, I started thinking about other ways that social media has an effect on society.
I realized that social media now puts pressure on young adults, specifically those in the "emerging adulthood" phase in their lives. Emerging adulthood is a recent psychological term and it refers to an age period from 18-24, where a person is no longer a part of adolescence, but has not yet matured enough to be considered an adult. Most, if not all, college students are considered emerging adults. Some college students are still living at home with their parents (despite living on campus), some are not holding down steady jobs, and some do not drive and/or own a car.
Social media presents a false reality to emerging adults, forcing us to believe that we must have our lives together immediately graduating from adolescence. As an emerging adult myself, I feel the pressure to have my life together. I look at some of my friends who are working consistently, who are driving themselves around in brand new cars, and some who have their own apartments already. I am not envious of their material items or anything else they have, but I am envious of how life seems to be going just fine for them. How do they have everything together? How are they not experiencing the struggles of life that I endure every day?
Any emerging adult who is in my position has pondered these questions. The questions sometimes invade our minds and consume our thoughts, but we can't help but to ask them. We see our fellow peers posting pictures on social media and flaunting assets, and we wonder why we aren't able to have the same success.
My advice to others who are living the same experience as me is to wait and be patient. Adulthood isn't a competition nor is it a race. There is no finish line to cross. We are all different people and we are all experiencing life (and figuring it out) in different ways. Similar to babies achieving developmental milestones, we are going to achieve our "adulthood milestones" at our own pace. There is no rush to have our lives and everything that comes with it together. It will come together on its own in due time.
