There are many forms of social media that
people around the entire globe access on a daily basis. Facebook, WhatsApp,
Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest (not really), texting,
Tinder, and if you're stuck in the stone age, BBM. Most of you reading this
probably have all or most of these social media apps on your phone or log in on
your computer on a daily basis. Our lives as we know it have become encompassed
with tweets, selfies, updates, snaps, filter changes, and hashtags. So, Here is
my personal account on how social media has affected my life.
Only
until a few months back I was just like all of the Teenagers of my generation.
I loved football games, working out, and of course keeping up with social
media. I had a routine of checking my phone almost every five minutes or less
out of boredom. I even used to go and come from the pool with my phone shoved
in my face. I was being just like “everyone else” by being obsessively involved
in the social media trends and I thought it was 100 percent normal. I wanted
everyone to know what I was doing and I wanted to know what everyone else was
doing. It became like 60 percent of my day. It was the first thing I saw when I
woke up and the last thing I saw when I eventually went to bed. I was addicted.
I knew I had to put a stop to this so I decided to delete all of my social
media applications (Except Instagram) until I felt I could recognise that I
could live without it. I had no idea how long it would last and what I would
find out about myself.
I started
off strong by not looking at my accounts at all. The only apps I had on my
phone were the basic ones it came with and my email account and some games.
After the first week, I noticed myself checking my phone constantly even when I
knew I had nothing to look at or check. I started obsessing and I went through
old pictures in my phone just so I would have something to see and flip
through. I must have looked through my pictures and checked my email a million
times because I was so bored and all I could think about was checking my
Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.
At the
time I was using Instagram in addition to my normal black and white negatives.
As I walked the green roads around the town I found myself seeing things and
thinking “I should put that on Instagram.” So I did. Several hours passed and I
realised I hadn't made any pictures, nor had I really mentally engaged in my
surroundings. Instagram was acting as a filter, blocking my actual, real
interaction with the people and things around me. I deleted my Instagram
account on the spot.
I don’t
use “addiction” lightly. I've spent the past few weeks monitoring(informally)
how, why and how often people “use” their Facebook accounts, and what I found,
for me, was alarming. To further elaborate my point I will tell you another
story. Recently, on yet another tour (some of you may know - The Rajasthan
& Gujarat Tour) I was positioned near a young guy. As the train left the
station, I noticed he was flicking through screen after screen of Instagram
content. He kept scrolling until he lost cell signal. I thought this was the
end of it, but apparently not. Fifteen minutes from landing he had his phone
back out and was scrolling through BLANK
INSTAGRAM PAGES. BLANK. There
was no content yet he couldn’t stop doing it, staring with a dead gaze into an
empty phone. As we reached his stop, his beloved signal returned and his face
lit up once again. Again I thought this was the end but after he got off, his
welcomers were waiting there...But “Mr Instagram” was once again on his phone,
oblivious to the world around him and not even seeing his people.
A-D-D-I-C-T-I-O-N. Now again, is this guy you? Is he me? I don’t THINK I’ve
ever done this, but I’m sure I’ve caused someone walking down some places
(malls, CCDs, etc.) to take evasive action because I’ve been on social media.
And I know for certain I’ve had to take evasive action, many times, avoiding
last second collisions with status updaters. If this seems inconsequential to
you, or you are one of those folks who apologizes for this stuff by saying
“What are you gonna do?” or “Well that is the world we live in now,” things
I’ve heard relentlessly over the past few days, I get it, but I just made the
decision to do what I could by not participating.
This was
a sickness and I knew I had to break it. I never thought social media played
such a big role in my life as it proved to be by getting rid of it completely.
I felt so weak that I let something intangible control my life so much. In a
study conducted by Pew Research Center, 92 percent of teens report going online
daily and 56 percent of the teens go online several times a day. Even though I
was being like the average teen or young college person, I knew I needed to
make a change. I stopped splurging and checking it and I eventually stopped
looking at it completely.
What is
really interesting to me is since I deleted these darn things, which as you now
know hasn’t been long, I noticed something. Social media had become my default
brain space. When I was in between tasks, or even tabs, my brain would say “You
should check your social media accounts.” Subliminal. “Oh, you have a free
second…check your accounts.” And now, I have nothing to check. I’m curious just
how much time I'm going to save and just how much of that time and energy I can
channel, funnel or apply to actual work? How will I lose contact with my
friends? I’m not really losing these friends, just their online versions, and
the idea that we are really connected via these networks.
I was
actually super happy. I started noticing things around me like the beautiful
trees on my way to pool, the people who also swim there, I started interacting
with people in parties and events (unlike previously when I used to sit alone
with my phone easing my boredom) and even felt like I had more energy and
positivity in my life. I did not have any social media on my phone for six
weeks. That may not seem like that long, but for me, it was a huge accomplishment.
I realised that what other people are doing does not matter and it will not
make my life any greater by keeping up with people I barely know. I decided I
did not want to be like everyone else and obsess over the next tweet from
so-and-so or spend hours picking out an Instagram filter. I have since
re-downloaded apps on my phone, but I do check them less and I realise the
dangers of being addicted to social media.
Perhaps
I'm making too much of this. Perhaps I’m not. Again, it all comes down to
undivided attention, something I'm finding so rare it feels like it should be
on the endangered species list. I encourage everyone to delete their social
media apps off their phones for an extended period of time and see what you
learn about yourself. I learned that I can do anything I set my mind to, I do
not have to rely on other people to make me happy, and you can see a lot of
beautiful things when you look up. You see I have a new agenda in life, and to
achieve what I'm after will require every once of time, energy, luck and focus,
and anything that takes away from this I can no longer afford to be a part of.
So, if you still have any interest in communicating with me, I'm an easy guy to
find or you can ring. Always there! So, my suggestion - use this social media
but prioritise it wisely & Have some more time to experience real, to
interact in REAL with your beloved.
