Hi everyone. My name is Kindra O’Connor, and I’m addicted to social media.
I’m fairly certain that most of your own names would fit into the above statement. My thoughts this past week have made me come to a realization-social media plays a huge role in my every day life. In fact, I paused my blog writing specifically to check my Facebook and Twitter for five minutes. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr, I feel that it is safe to say that 99 percent of us use at least one of these sites daily, if not hourly. Social media has become a part of our lives as much as eating and sleeping. So if you haven’t guessed by now, this weeks “what if” question is (drum roll please)…
What if our social media sites suddenly disappeared?
After a long day of classes, you sit down at your desk and open your laptop, your normal afternoon routine. The first thing you do, by habit, is go straight to Facebook, except something is different. Instead of the usual abundance of selfies, depressed and complaint-filled statuses, and the occasional “PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, GIRL!” pictures, you see a simple message. “Sorry, that page does not exist.” Your confusion leads you to your next stop, Twitter. You see the same message. Every social media site you try to visit shows the same results. “Sorry, that page does not exist.”
So what if all social media sites disappeared? What would we do to consume our free time? Although I know I have a slight…okay, I have a severe addiction to social media, I feel as though I would’t know what to do with myself without it. I’m so used to constant updates from my friends that I would feel cut off from the world. However, I’ll admit that a break from social media “drama” would be refreshing. How would you feel if all of your social media connections were taken away? Would it lead to you to any realizations of your relationship with social media? Overall, how does social media affect your every day life?
BONUS CHALLENGE: Try shutting your smart phone and computer off for a whole day. Completely cut off your connection to social media for a full 24 hours. I know it sounds impossible, but this simple task may make you realize a thing or two.
This post is super interesting, and incredibly relevant to probably every single person in this class. What would the world be like if we didn’t have social media? I don’t even know. People would probably go insane. I don’t know about anyone else, but I know I can’t go more than a few hours without checking social media. I try to limit myself, but especially now that most of my friends are attending colleges across the country, I find myself constantly checking to see what’s going on in everyone’s lives. I give major credit to Evan though, cause I know I would never ever be able to do that!
You are completely amazing. This is totally amazing. Being one of the friends who happens to be in your room a lot I know a great deal about your social media addiction. I feel like everyone needs a good break from media to just find themselves. Personally I find myself scrolling through my time line every ten minutes or so for fear of not knowing what’s going on in my home town. Then I stop and realize why does it matter what’s going on at home when I’m at state college? It never ends. Instead of just listing a challenge it would be more effective if you actually attempted your challenge and wrote your struggles.
This post really made me think about my life. It is so easy to surround yourself with technology and “friends” and “followers”. After reading this, I think I need to get out more. From now on I am going to leave my phone in my room and make myself take leisurely walks around town, soaking in my true surroundings.
This was super interesting. I never thought about Facebook and Twitter and such being shut down, its weird to think about because that would scare me in all honesty. I can’t even go 20 minutes with my phone dead, without worrying that someone needs me. Great blog <3
It would be awesome if social media didn’t exist!! I used to have all of them on my phone, but realized I spent too much time on them, so I deleted my instagram, twitter, and vine. The only one I still have is facebook, and I try to go on as little as possible, but I still waste time. It makes me so frustrated sometimes if I’m hanging out with friends and we’re trying to have a conversation, but all of them are just scrolling down their twitter or instagram feeds. It’s not like they’re trying to be rude, it’s just instinct. This needs to stop. I’d be pumped if social media went away forever.