Thoughts and reflections on my use of social media

What would happen if suddenly social media stopped working, do those three minutes here and there throughout a day actually amount to a significantly missed amount of time?

Without a doubt social media has become a tool of mass distraction and procrastination in most people's lives, I am absolutely not an exception to this. With most of our lives being centred around the use of a computer or a smartphone, the temptation of scrolling through our favourite social media websites is quite literally a click away. Going to work and using my personal Mac has proved that as my social media accounts are already logged in, a lot of the time this can prove a large temptation. But when would this be seen as a damaging or negative almost obsessive relationship? For me it is the sheer amount of time I spend automatically on auto-pilot checking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat everyday.

The first thing I do every single morning after turning off my alarm is check all four of the previously mentioned apps on my phone, and this is absolutely not dependent on whether or not there is a visible notification that would hook my interest. As I write this I fully understand just how ridiculous this is, so every morning rather than get out of bed, have a shower, get some food (ect) I would rather click 'like' a few times to show to a person whom I have limited contact with that I have somewhat enjoyed what they have shared with the world.

This is obviously not exclusive to the morning. I have a break in my day from doing work or physically talking to people, you can bet Facebook is open, I am trying to write an assignment nope I must check all four apps first, going to bed? sure after I just check that I haven't missed anything. This is where for me I think this obsession lies, in the fear that if I don't continue with such activities I will in fact miss out on something crucial and forever live in ignorance.

But let's be honest here the majority of social media is filled with rubbish! And the posts often on there I do not even enjoy with people whom I may not have had any real contact with for years. Like people in relationships where they are being over sharing, constant updates on people's babies, engagements, rants about absolutely nothing, spelling mistakes and the Over Capitalization Of Words (grrrrr why, just why!) And only 1% of posts actually are of interest to me and my life (like news, job ads, advise, people wiring about train problems, traffic ect). So it then becomes clear that for the time I spend on such websites I get so little out of it and as they say 'time is money' and I am getting very little out of my 'money'.

Think of all those brief moments a day where I could not damage my eyes on small font which is projected through harsh blue lighting and simply relax. And when I sit there and try to do work, actually do work rather than spend an hour learning of what song lyrics people are currently relating to.

In the past I have deleted my Facebook app, logged out of Facebook on my Mac for the simple reason of I was sick of seeing ridiculous posts and comments and wanted 'a break' to see just how much more time I would have to achieve other things. Yes, that's right, I wanted a break from a website that does not enrich my life whatsoever. And you know what, I really didn't miss it that much. Facebook missed me however, emailing me 'what you have missed' only telling me what I suspected, I had not missed anything worthwhile whatsoever.

This inability to physically contact the 'social' world occurred again last year, this time in a much more organic and unintentional occasion. Okay, thats my way of putting 'my phone fell out of my bag and remained on the living room floor whilst I was in London at uni'. Now I suspect (if you had read this far) you have one of two simple reactions, ONE: Oh well, do you even need it TWO: How could you cope, did you make awkward eye contact with someone on the train? Well, I am not writing this post from the grave so I did survive, despite my anxiety induced state. My brain was constantly panicking, had I got on the right train? How could I possibly know, I can’t just check! What happens if something happens to me and I get stabbed, how will anyone know. What if I get lost. I completely understand that in this situation, it wasn’t being although social media that had me panicked, but my inability to contact anyone if I fall into trouble. But anyway... I got into university, went to my lecture, and back home. Surely enough I had only missed about three facebook notifications, two texts and some twitter stuff. So, five hours without social media, was it really that bad? 

But on the other side of the debate, social media has proved so important and a force for good in a lot of circumstances. It is the main way that people access news stories, and ways that smaller events that would not have been covered by mainstream media can become the talking point of millions across the world with one click of a button. Hashtags have been created as a simple and understated way of people saying they care. That excruciating pain of feeling alone, and that no one wants to hear your story is eradicated by turning on a webcam, uploading to a website, and finding others who feel the same thus beginning a friendship realer than any friendship experienced in the traditional sense. Families geographically broken up can feel closer than ever, catching up for free, seeing the events that would have normally been missed out on and casually ‘liking’ to show that they are still part of that narrative. This list would truly go on forever.

I think its a balance. Like everything in life, too much of one thing is damaging. So therefore this is not a confessional of me saying that I am never going to use Facebook, Instagram Twitter or Snapchat ever again and you should all join my bandwagon and we should embrace the simpler life of Fax machines and dial up. It is simply me questioning why I devote such time to gain relatively little, and in that attitude simply try and use it much less and look beyond a screen and enjoy the 'real world' out there. Also I hope to start a discussion, have you ever taken time to question your use of social media? What do you think of your relationship with Social Media? Have you been able to restrict your use to a level in which becomes much less wasteful?

Steph