It’s 2016 and technology is developing faster than we can say “iOS” or "re-tweet." Social media is advancing far before we can keep up with the newest trend. It frightens me just how constant and influential these things have become in our lives.
I fully understand what an oxymoron it is that I’m writing this article on my touchscreen laptop and how my posting it on Facebook is completely hypocritical. I’m not trying to say I’m “holier than thou” by writing this with hopes to expose your mind to the thought that we might be controlled by a machine or the thoughts of strangers. Simply, I’m trying to unearth the epiphany I’ve experienced as to how I, and so many others, have become enslaved to social media through our electronics.
If you were to ask me the last time I saw a sunset, my answer would not be that I saw one on my drive home from work; but rather that I saw one on a friend’s Facebook or Instagram. It scares me that I check our local newscaster’s Twitter instead of actually watching the news. Hell, I couldn’t even tell you what channel the news is on because I don’t have real TV; only Netflix and Hulu.
I take 10 second breaks at work to open my phone and scroll through my feed on Facebook. I don’t look at any posts, I literally just scroll to get the motion out of my system. I used to keep my phone charging on my pillow when I went to sleep at night because I couldn't go to bed otherwise; not even if it was on my bedside table. It's amazing that a six-inch screen controls my life; in reality, it’s an addiction. Actually, screw an addiction, it’s an abusive relationship.
A friend and I were engaging in casual conversation the other day and she stated how ”you can literally just meet someone in person and all of a sudden Facebook is suggesting them as someone you should add”. She went on to say that it was the “same thing with Google; it just knows all my ‘favorite places’ and where I've been that day. I don’t know, it’s just weird to me”. This discussion struck me the wrong way—it was weird to me too. I had realized how many times that had happened to me and how it wasn’t just a coincidence. How did my phone and laptop know what I had done that day or who I had met? I took a moment to see how many phones, cameras, televisions, tablets, and computers were surrounding me and I stood feeling somewhat violated. When I went home that night I noticed how much technology there was in the place I grew up. I stood in my living room and remembered when we had one of those box TV’s with the VCR attached by thick black wires with red, yellow, and white plugs. There was nothing like Pandora that knew what you wanted to hear, only CD's that you would have to constantly change; or if you could, upload them to your desktop and make a playlist that you would, in turn, burn onto a blank disk. Even back then, doing such an act was mind-blowing. I say all this remembering I was born in the late 90s but still raised early enough to remember.
You can connect with people in another state or even another country. Technology is universal. The need to be recognized is universal. Does it not make you uncomfortable to know that we live in a world where taking a Snap of what event you are at is more important than actually being at that event? I recently just went to a Mumford and Sons concert (my favorite band and my second time seeing them) and I spent almost the entire time taking photos. As I laid in bed that night, it realized that I spent all that money on tickets to take mediocre photos that I would upload captioning how much I enjoyed them; when, in all reality, I was 30 feet away from the people I admire most in this world and I didn’t even engage in the moment. I won’t remember the feeling of the music resonating through my body or the sheer excitement of just being there—I'll just remember how many likes I got.
In a way, Social media seems almost cult-like. Think about it; we have “followers” who wait on us to post, tweet, or upload. Our every move is being watched and we contribute willingly. In a second you can type someone's name in a search bar and learn everything about them. You’ve now entered their life. Our value is expressed by how many “favorites” we acquire. Our beauty is determined by how many likes and comments we get on an over-edited photo. Hey, editing our photos makes us look pretty and we need to take these crazy photos that makes us seem like we have these amazing lives; so basically in order to have friends we need to be pretty and interesting as more people will like and be envious us and the more people who like us/ envy us, the more we matter. Yeah, that's a totally normal mindset.
We care more about our status and the way we look on a screen than who we actually are. I've known couples who have actually stayed together because they just “look good” or they are represented as “goals”. Well I'm sorry, but if a fake relationship and 200 likes on photo are your “goals," you’ve been seriously misguided--quite frankly, it's sad. Social media was created with the intent to share and keep you connected, not create a farce of a life to gain popularity. Celebrities post unrealistic photos of themselves talking about how to be yourself and how you’re beautiful the way you are, yet they are the ones who make you feel like you're not good enough until you reach their unobtainable level. I mean, come on, Kylie Jenner sits there and gets her lips done then starts an entire business teaching people that they can get the same lips as her if they just buy her product. Wait, isn’t this the same girl who said she just wanted to be “normal” and stresses the ideal that you can be “beautiful” the way you are.
Let’s be serious for a second, if KJ hadn’t been so insecure about the way media made her feel less than good enough to begin with and had truly thought she was “beautiful the way she was” then she wouldn’t have needed the injections in the first place. Let me just tell you something, buying KJ’s Lip Kit won’t change your lips, it’ll just provide money to some famous-for-no-reason teen who will turn around and use that money she earned off of empty promises to get more injections, in my opinion. Its a vicious circle. So unless you go out and get some lip injections, you’re just gonna look the same. This unrealistic fame social media has set for us has taken over our lives. We believe that if we don’t contour our faces or get that sick fade that we aren’t good enough. Just sit on that for a moment.
It’s funny that social media makes you less social. Think about it; we spend more time proving that we actually have lives instead of living them. We turn on our phones and close off our minds. In less than twenty seconds, I can take a photo, apply my favorite filter, put a caption, tag whoever’s company I'm stealing instead of enjoying and post it for (literally) the world to see. You may have 5k followers on Insta, but how many of those people do you actually talk to? We are living in a generation where our computer thinks for us. We live in a generation where we thrive off of a like or a share that serves as validation from our “friends”. We live in a generation that uses emoji's to speak for us. We “slide in the dms” instead of asking someone out. We are a generation who uses Google to make a good grade on our homework. We use computers that use us; subconsciously swaying our opinions and breaking our spirits-- making us dependent. We are living in a generation that is outrunning us. As I've said before, we live in a generation that isn’t even living to be honest.
Social media utilizes technology (phones, computers, and tablets) to remind us of what we are not. We strive to be better in the wrong way. We use this mind game to fool ourselves and others of a way to get happy quick. We see ads for the “next big thing” or “beauty secrets”, and crave more. It may be scary, but do you see what I’m trying to say? In a world full of unhappy souls looking for validation in the hands of strangers, I stand tall knowing the difference-- recognizing that likes won't save me—but retreating back to what society has brainwashed me to believe. Don’t be misguided, I write this article fully aware that immediately after I upload it, I will return to my smartphone and submit to twitter and the likes. I do this remembering that the device I hold easily controls me, and my mindset, on a daily basis. Honestly, it doesn't seem like this violation or control will be abandoning its hold on us any time soon.
