Facebook and Twitter are a great way to communicate, express
yourself, and connect. But they are also a great way to disconnect. In a world
dominated with smartphones and all the latest technology, it is super easy to
be sucked into social media. I myself have had Facebook since 8th
grade and Twitter since about junior year of high school. Once I made my
twitter and got used to it, I preferred Facebook. It felt like there was a
better connection between people on there, you weren’t limited to 140
characters in everything that you type, and overall it was just more organized.
Twitter fell to the way side and I used it every once and a while. Then I got an
Instagram and suddenly that was the next cool thing! Everything had to be
documented and put on “Insta” with a million hashtags. Once I got Instagram, I used
Facebook less and Twitter more. Suddenly I had a separate photo album and didn’t
have to go on Facebook to deal with reading other high school drama or that my
aunt’s dog just did this just to post a picture. I also liked Twitter more because
neither of my parents were on it and I could tweet whatever without getting a “I
saw this online, whats going on?” or a “this happened and I had to find out
online?!” I was a senior, I didn’t want a social media babysitter! I wasn’t swearing,
I wasn’t bad mouthing anyone, I wasn’t putting up bad pictures; I just didn’t want
to be monitored. Unfortunately, my mom is still on Facebook and my Dad had to
make a Twitter for work (and he uses it for the sole purpose of keeping tabs on
my brother and I) so I am back to being monitored. Social media takes the win.
Now that we got the back story out of the way, I can admit
to spending WAY too much time on my phone with the Twitter app pulled up. Looking
back, it disconnected me from my family. And the people I was following online weren’t
particularly people I truly cared about in real life, just something to do
instead of bonding with my family over a TV show I might not have really
enjoyed. I should have just faked it for the sake of being able to talk to my
family during commercial breaks about what just happened in the show. Social media
wins this one.
But! It’s not just me! Believe it or not I am not alone
here. So short story. I’m in my first year of college, about a month and a half
into the semester, things are going good, I call my parents about once a week,
post on Twitter all the time, oh, and what’s my Facebook password? So it’s one
of those Sundays after practice and I am on the phone with my dear mother. She
tells me (and I quote, hence why I am about to use quotations) “you need to
start using Facebook more so I can keep better tabs on your life.” And she said
it in that Megan Ann I am serious about
this kind of voice so I was very polite and said yeah okay! Upon hanging up
the phone I started to reflect on this and what we had been talking about in
class. My mother, a 44 year old mom trying to be that super cool parent, and I love
her to pieces for it, just told me she needs me to use social media so she can
follow my life. Social media. Instead of just calling and saying “Hey sweetie! How
are you?! What’s new?” every once and awhile. Social media. Our world is soo
dependent on the web, on the keyboard, that we would rather read about our
families lives when it is convenient for us instead of calling and maybe having
to leave a message because we caught them at a bad time. This just blows my
mind. Social media wins again.
When it comes to social media I think we ALL need a better
understanding of when to tune in and when to tune out. I come to study tables
every night and for at least an hour I have to be focused on school work. No phones
to text, no checking all my social media outlets, just me, a bunch of other
athletes, and our homework. All done in silence. And this is the time when my
productivity is at its highest. Imagine our world if social media didn’t exist.
Would we know what it is like to hide behind technology to hide real life
conversations?
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