I can still remember getting my first phone when I was in 7th grade. It was a hideous bright red with a slide up keyboard, but I didn’t care, I could finally talk to my friends whenever I wanted. There was a sense of freedom I immediately felt, but what I didn’t realize was how it would shape my life.
That phone was my first step into the world of social media, one that would eventually consume my life and become second nature. In one aspect, social media really is a beautiful thing. We can learn about events and new places just by logging on.
#Shelter #Atlanta #HurricaneIrma #IrmaHurricane2017 pic.twitter.com/61USCv3yqf
— Mohammed (@surtijaffer) September 8, 2017
The danger in social media is that we have become too reliant on it. We are so good at logging on but have not yet mastered the practice of logging off.
me: i hate social media it's so draining
me: tweets about how much i hate social media— liv (@duhnarry) August 28, 2017
In fact, I think many of us would be horrified if we realized how much time each day we dedicate to scrolling through social media. Yes, we can learn a lot from informative tweets and pictures of new places on Instagram. Though a long with this also comes the question, how much is too much time? What else could I be doing besides getting lost in a string of tweets or watching multiple Tasty videos?
We have become so quick to put our heads down and get lost in our phones that we get scared when we have to communicate in person or even worse, talk on the dreaded phone. We are so quick to type out “IRL” but do we even know what that means anymore.
“The danger in social media is that we have become too reliant on it.” – That is so correct. I totally agree with your thoughts. Due to the fact that we spend too much time with social media, it especially affects the relationship to those we got to know before or without social media. As you just said, we kind of forget how having an actual conversation works, which is why we are afraid if we need to have one.
“In one aspect, social media really is a beautiful thing. We can learn about events and new places just by logging on.” – I agree with that, too. I would add that this applies not just to events or places, but also people. We can meet people we haven’t even seen before. This is one of the advantages social media has. It does definitely connect people as long as they are not able to meet IRL. As soon as they are to do so, I feel that this affects every friend- or relationship in a negative way, since the phone has become too important, as you just mentioned.
Madison, you bring up some great questions. Sometimes you don’t realize how good we are at signing on, but not logging off. Social media, especially within our majors in Newhouse, is a crucial part of what we do day in and day out. I find myself creating more and more social accounts and being connected more than ever. Honestly, I think if someone told me to turn off my phone for the entire day, it would be difficult to do it, I don’t even know if I could! It is definitely scary how much we rely on social media to stay connected.
You bring up many interesting points that made me stop and think about how much time I actually spend on my phone. I now question if I am exposing myself to too much meaningless content rather than exposing myself to content that will better me as an individual.
Loved this post! I can really relate since I have a hard time “logging out” of my phone and social media. Although it feels good to be disconnected sometimes, I am still thinking about what notifications i may be getting on my phone!
I really liked this post and the title immediately grabbed my attention. I also like how you highlighted your main point with a separate infographic that provided some interesting facts surrounding the digital “diets” of teens. I’ve been using an app, Moment, that tracks how many hours a day you spend on your phone and then reports the numbers back to you and I have to say when I first started using it it was eye opening to see just how much time a day I spent using my phone (and mainly on social media). I’ve definitely tried since then to make an effort to cut down on the amount of time.
This post is a real eye opener. It is interesting to think about how easy it is for us all to log on, but how difficult it is for us to log off. Everyone is guilty of this – even our parents who did not grow up with social media as a part of their lives! Honestly it makes me wonder what is going to happen as technology begins to advance… It may push us farther apart from each other and leave even less room for interpersonal connections with people IRL. Interesting take!