So from the title, you can probably guess what this is going to be about, and that is that I don't like social media. I like the whole idea behind it and how it can be used to stay in touch with friends and family, but don't like how it has become so corrupt. I don't have a phone, as many people know, and that's by choice because I can get by without it.
The main use for social media was originally to stay in contact with family and friends that have moved or are not close to you physically. It was a tool to keep them updated on your life and accomplishments. Nowadays, social media is used to meet new people, dangerous and friendly. If you look at a person's friends list or look at who they are following, chances are they won't be able to name every single person. I know I sure can't.
I believe social media should be used more responsibly. Just a few weeks ago, my school was put on lock down because a few teenagers decided to try and post anonymous threats towards my high school via Yik Yak. First off, nothing is ever anonymous and that's something people need to get straight. Nor is anything ever completely erased from the internet. Someone always has a file of it somewhere. I recall, a few years ago I started my youtube channel and posted some silly videos. I went back a while after I had posted them and deleted them because I didn't like how I was portrayed. Despite my efforts to take down the videos, when I googled my name, I discovered that one of my viewers had actually taken some screenshots of those videos. So from this I learned, if you're going to post something. Post it. But make sure it's gonna be something you're still proud of in a couple of weeks.
Image is important to me as a musician and teenage girl. Some mornings, I change my outfit up to three times because I can't decide on what to wear. That's just the start of it, though. With social media, there's not just the shirt, pants, jacket, and shoes. There's the profile picture, cover photo, statuses, likes, dislikes, etc. The list goes on. I used to post things every day, each time with the hope that certain someones might like it and other someones might comment. The disappointment that came with the lack of responses was overwhelming for my little teenage heart. So I'd delete the status or the photo. I cared a lot about how people saw me. I cared a lot about whether they saw me or not.
I don't use my facebook much anymore, or at least compared to how much I used to. I don't post statuses because I don't have much to share with the world. Additionally, I don't need to share things with the people on my friends list. Just because they are there doesn't necessarily mean they're important to me. I have the cellphone numbers of the people who matter most, or alternative ways of contacting them. For the people that equally matter, I am still getting around to asking for their info.
My step-mom told me this rule about clothes. She said if they haven't been used in six months, then you don't need them. I feel as if this can be applied to social media as well and friends/followers. I am constantly erasing people from my friends lists. For every new person I add, I remove a couple. I do this to make sure my list doesn't get overwhelmingly lost, and to just clear off the people that have left facebook or haven't spoken to me in six months. Sometimes I'll see a name on my friends list and think to myself, "Who the heck is that?"
Okay, I've got some homework to do, so I'll try to be quick.
People are also very dependent on social media, I've noticed. I don't have a cellphone, so maybe I'm biased, but I feel so free without a phone. I see my peers texting beneath the desks or I walk past someone on the sidewalk who happens to pull out their phone as we get closer, and I think to myself how lucky I am. Phones are unsafe. They're a distraction from the things that are important. Texting while driving? Stop, please. You have somewhere to be, and it's just holding you back.
This doesn't mean phones and social media are completely useless. There are beneficial apps like alarms, GPS, and email. The thing that people are forgetting to realize, though, because of this technology, is that they are perfectly capable of living life without it.
Don't let your phone live life for you.
You live it for you.
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