Day 1: Five problems with social media
1. I'm too connected. It's way too easy for me to creep on people. Both the people who I like and the people I don't. I can all too easily get sucked into the black hole of Facebook creeping my teacher's daughter's college roommate's brother at 3:00 in the morning before I even realize I'm doing it. I know too much about all the people who I never cared to know about in the first place.
2. Nobody is telling the whole truth. Instagram, anyone? How many filters does that thing have? Is there a zit on my forehead? You'll never know. Is their relationship as happy as their 17,000 selfies would imply? Probably not. My point is, sure, the things we share on social media are reflections of the truth of our lives. We're not completely making things up. But they're rarely the honest truth about our lives with the gritty details. We all choose to share things that make us look good, rather than publicizing the D- we just got on our midterm.
3. It's the only way I know it's someone's birthday. Or that they have a new job, or boyfriend, or baby. By the same token that I am overwhelmed with details of everyone's lives, I also wouldn't know much of the gossip or updates about others' lives if it weren't for social media. Every relationship status update, engagement and pregnancy announcement, graduation party invitation, and wedding photo album upload keeps me in the loop. I am afraid to imagine how little I would actually know about the people in my life if we weren't connected on ten different social media platforms.
4. It kills my phone battery. And it happens fast. Right now, it's 10:53 a.m. and it already has only 58% left. My charger is in my bookbag and I have taken to carrying it with me everywhere as a habit, because I know it will be dead by 3:00 today. And no surprise! I've already been on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Timehop, and Messenger today. Take a look around: everyone's neck is bent downward at a 45 degree angle as they flick their thumbs upward, scrolling through the day's latest updates. Ever been to an airport boarding area? People are huddled around electrical outlets like they're on life support. Everyone's batteries are constantly dying -- both figuratively and literally.
5. It makes us all too dependent on the approval of others. Likes, shares, views, favorites, retweets... Where does it end? How far into our subconscious do we allow all this approval to seep before we unwittingly become dependent upon it? That's a question I don't even want to think about.
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