Social Media Is For Idiots…
Call me boring, but sometimes I wish I was the age I am now, but in the nineties.
As much as a growth in technology in recent decades has made us so much more connected and knowledgeable, it has come at an extreme price. I personally would love to exist in a time where the phone I used only had the ability to make phone calls and simple text messages; which is ultimately useful enough for us to get by, without being too much. A phone like that is good, and a lot healthier than what we now carry around in our pockets (if the phone even fits).
Without a doubt, the invention and growth of social media has made us so much more connected to each other than ever before. But so many different social media applications have caused us to have to check our phones so much more than is inherently necessary; and feeling like you might be missing out on something triggers some kind of addiction among us. We now spend so much time looking at screens we actually may forget to appreciate what is actually going on in the real world around us, and maybe we should actively see how the people we care about are doing; not just finding out by watching a Snapchat story about their day. We can find out so much about someone with a few clicks or taps; we can ‘internet stalk’ if we want to find out something about a person, and to me this is creepier the more I actually think about it.
A culture of likes and shares
Nowadays, we find out a lot of news and celebrity gossip on their social media profiles, and they have great influence over us in this way. It is the easiest way to reach out to the masses and things are quickly spread and shared by thousands of people. How else did we suspect Kylie Jenner’s now announced pregnancy? How else do we keep up with Donald Trump’s threats to North Korea? It’s all so exciting to follow celebrities lives on social media as if we are actually part of their lives too. This also transfers to our friends and acquaintances lives; we know far too much than we probably should with pretty much zero effort on our parts.
Why does it seem that Instagram is a constant battle to prove who has the better life and who can get the most likes? Is this really what life is about and do we really need to feel validated in this way? Does [insert name] really need to post 2,398 pictures of her child on Facebook every-day, and how will this child feel growing up, knowing that her mother has shown and shared literally everyone her whole life-story. Not going to lie, I’m certainly glad I wasn’t a baby or a young child at a time where it was so easy to show and share my baby steps to everyone, or perhaps what baby food I’d had for dinner that particular night. Obviously people can do what they like with their social media accounts, but the fact all this is an option and is deemed ‘normal’ now, worries me.
Contrary to your possible beliefs, no I do not actually resemble any of the above images. I do in fact think social media is a big part of our lives and I would definitely feel a bit lost without it if it was suddenly taken away from me. Which is why I wish I sometimes it never existed, and that we just had brick phones that we used for asking when we were going to see someone etc.
Ultimately, I wish I wasn’t addicted to constantly checking my phone and waking up in the morning and scrolling on every platform, and repeating all this before bed too. Checking if the person you’re interested in has ‘viewed’ your story on either Snapchat or Instagram, and wishing you looked like one of those Instagram models (or just a pretty girl you know). This isn’t a healthy way of living and we all know it. Who needs to put actual effort into getting to know someone; in particular someone of romantic interest, when you can simply send a ‘you out?’ Snap to someone, or double-tap on a good Instagram selfie to let them know you find them attractive. What happened to walking over to someone and asking them out in front of their friends? What happened to love-letters? Why would we bother doing any of the things our parents and grand-parents had to do to get to know someone, when we can just double-tap, swipe-right, comment, share, ghost, pop-up and snap?
We are all aware of how brilliant social media can really be, but do we really know how unhealthy, lazy and addicted it has made us too?
