SVU Takes On a Social Media Cleanse
By Kedron Phillips
Many of us can say that we spend too much time scrolling on social media. I know at least I can. A good social media fast never hurt anyone. I have come so close to deleting a lot of my accounts and just never get around to it. There are so many times I think to myself “Why do I even have social media? It doesn’t really leave me feeling satisfied or happy.” As a matter of fact, a lot of times when I am on social media I find myself feeling angry. I see something stupid someone has said and stew about it the rest of the day.
Recently I have been trying to stay off of social media as much as possible but General Conference does make that somewhat difficult. We get into the hour and a half mark of the second 2 hour Sunday session and I just start scrolling. I’m sure that almost all of us can say “guilty” to that one.
Social media is not a bad thing. In fact it can be quite good, but it can be USED for bad. That’s why its not a bad idea from time to time to take a break. Don’t feel ashamed to delete a few social media apps. You can always redownload them later. In a recent study I did for a book report, research actually found that the more time people spend on social media, and the more accounts they have, the less happy they are and they actually have a lower quality of life.
One student in particular who participated in the social media fast is Coleman Oetli, a freshman on the men’s golf team. According to Coleman “I decided to participate in the social media fast because I was wasting too much time on social media and I really needed to find a more productive use of my time. At first it was really difficult to stop getting online because I would get really bored, but eventually I found other ways to distract myself like being more engaged when I was with my friends instead of sitting on my phone. I also watched a lot of documentaries on animals to pass the time.”
I can definitely agree that at first it is pretty hard. It’s almost like a force of habit that you have to be determined to break. I like instagram just as much as everyone else, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. I think that each person could benefit from taking a social media break and enjoy being in the moment just a little more! Social media can be used for good, but like Coleman said, it can be a big waste of time. The last thing anyone needs as we get closer to finals is something to waste our time on!
