Today I gave up social media for twelve hours straight. This
meant no Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. It also meant no media interaction
such as email, texting or watching television. I use these six outlets on a
daily basis. I consider myself a normal media user but not obsessive. As the
morning started out, I found it easy to not check my phone on the way to class.
Once I arrived to my first class, I hadn’t even noticed I had not looked at my
phone until I saw one of my classmate’s pull out theirs. I didn’t feel I was
missing out on seeing a post on Instagram, but it made me feel anxious. I
worried that someone may have been trying to get a hold of me. I also worried
my professors would send an email about class. I worried my mom had texted me
and was possibly becoming worried that I had not responded to her text. Let me
remind you this was only within the first two hours of this assignment. By the time I made it to my second class, I
caught myself reaching for my phone more than once. I usually arrive to my second class early and
check social media while I’m waiting. As
far as other media outlets, sacrificing Netflix wasn’t too difficult. I don’t
have much time to sit down and watch Netflix during the day.
The most
difficult media outlets to avoid were texting, Instagram, and Snapchat. Those
definitely take the top three spots of my favorite social media. In terms of
patterns, I noticed myself wanting to check my phone during any idle time. This
included waiting for class to start or waiting in line for food. The easiest to avoid were Facebook, Netflix,
and Email. This is because people are
not posting as frequently on these.
For the
most part, the entertainment and zero contact threw me off the most. I noticed
I felt anxious majority of the time and bored to death. I felt as if I was
somewhat isolated to just my surroundings and had zero contact with others.
This deprivation allowed me to see that I am more addicted to social media than
what I thought. It showed me that I am just as guilty as being on my phone as
everyone else. I hate to admit it but I could not go more than one day without
my phone or laptop.
Media
consumes my day-to-day life beyond social media. It is how I communicate with
family back at home, make plans with friends, and share information. Media allows for connections to be made with
peers and keep those relationships. The negative side to media is it can
consume your time. It can also become a very unhealthy habit by isolating you
from real interaction. I think media can become over indulgent for some.
Today’s world is consumed with media, making it difficult to resist. It’s
important we balance our lives and not become caught up with the cyber world.
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