As an avid social media user myself, I sometimes forget exactly how much I rely on my phone. Walking through campus, eyes looking down at Snapchats, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, I am held staring at a screen that means nothing.
As I wake up in the morning, I look through Snapchats, read the "Cosmopolitan" story, and start my day. And when I lay down to go to sleep, I look through other social media until I feel like I can close my eyes. It is not only then that I find myself staring at the screen. Doing homework, during class, at dinner, and worst of all, with friends and family, sometimes seems to be the “right” time to scroll through the digital world. I am certainly not the only one, I walk through campus and every person has their head down, eyes glued to the phone. Not realizing there are people walking towards us, sometimes we will find ourselves running into each other.
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The other day my phone died but I still had another class to go to. On my break between classes, I grabbed something to eat and sat down. Besides my usual eat and scroll routine, I just ate and observed. What I saw was kind of scary. I saw not one person's eyes or smile. I mostly saw the top of people's heads and what hairstyle they were sporting that day. I saw people sitting near me, eating their lunch, not engaged in the world around them. To me, it almost seemed like everyone was not entirely human. Controlled by a machine, they seem to have started to become one.
A few days later when I was out with friends, we decided to go to a beautiful bridge surrounded by gorgeous trees and flowers. It was beautiful. But I realized then, that things like this are not getting appreciated because all we care about is getting the “perfect picture” for Instagram. Most of us are guilty of this, wanting to show off what we did that day, and I am no exception. When I saw this, I realized I was not enjoying things for myself, but just so I could show others I am having fun. Which, really defeats the purpose of joy, right? Why do we post things on Instagram with a pretty background and a fake laugh? To show we are having fun, right? Now, there is nothing wrong with expressing your joy to the rest of the world, but I am just worried that in the process we are losing the pleasure in being blessed with these beautiful things. Without our full knowledge, we are comparing our lives to others everyday. If comparison is the thief of joy, then isn’t our obsession with social media stealing our joy as well?
I am guilty. I post candids of me laughing, having fun and enjoying life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Do you want to know a secret though? Sometimes, those smiles and pretty places are not the whole story. There are times when I post a picture-perfect photo, and I am having the worst day I have had in a while. Nothing is always what it seems, and all we see is the smiles and beautifully edited pictures. What I fear is that we are only doing this to feel accepted. Accepted by those people with a smartphone and the ability to use their thumbs. Because our likes start to determine our worth and our retweets start to determine our popularity, and that is what scares me.
We are starting to forget about what is around us. We aren’t present when we are with those we love, we less and less are having deep and meaningful conversations. Thoughtful words are being turned into “did you see what Polly put on Instagram? She is so perfect.” We are the generation of smartphones and Instagram likes, of retweets and shares, and somehow, this is starting to determine our worth. Social media is the thief of time, joy, and experience. We stopped experiencing things because that’s what we enjoy, and started experiencing things for the sole purpose to show others we are “happy."
Our time and ability to be present seems to have been stolen by a machine and that is why I believe that our generation, will be the unhappiest that has yet to come. I am no expert, I have no proof that social media takes away our happiness, but I do know what it does to me, and I have two eyes to see that no longer are people engaging in genuine conversation. So, my challenge to myself and whoever is reading this is, take a break from your screen, it will always be there, and maybe start a conversation with a stranger, laugh with your friends, and live in the moment. Social media has been an amazing part of our lives, and it’s not always bad, but be sure to know when enough is enough. Don’t miss the peace of the sunset and the hope of the sunrise because you wanted to get a good picture to post later on Facebook. Leave your phone at home, go on a hike, really spend time with family and friends, and enjoy the view.
