Social media: something of which we take advantage of not knowing how important it really is, and how much we make it run our lives. I took the time to dedicate a week of my life to see what it would be like to not use any social networking site. The outcome I was hoping for was to become more intelligent and creative. I was hoping to have an unlock potential for my creative mind. The outcome was not so drastic, but what did happen? I noticed and learned a lot of things about other people, the world, and me. The first 2 days began as I took notes and took pictures trying to grab each moment of “anti-social media” life but to be honest at the third day, I was tired of it. I wanted them back. I began needing to not use my Facebook for entertainment, which we sometimes forget it is, but to contact people. My thoughts began to wonder as well; “I wonder what’s going on in the social media world?” the world of social media is so quick and fast. A trending topic could be trending within seconds and not trending even faster. It’s a whole world that exists from nothing. The social media is floating all around us and we forget this by being spoiled by it. It’s the ease of taking you phone out to check instagram as you stand in line waiting for food. Oh, We’ve all done it. It’s a comfort spot. We wake up in the morning and the first thing we do is check our sites. See what’s going on that we missed, what’s jokes have surfaced, who’s doing what and who’s doing who. And what’s even worse is when we click on these apps on our phone out of instinct rather then by choice. We become accustomed to just exploring this unexisting world just as if waking up in the morning and checking to see what the weather is in our cruel evil world. But as time went on, I must not lie I did begin to think deeper and more intellectually. Especially after entertaining myself with knowledge on the Internet. Just discovering new things and instead of sitting down scrolling down instagram. I sat and dug into my thoughts and dug deeper. Like an inception while being awake. And being that I was aware of not using social media I could just watch everyone as they took out there phones and entered the social media world blacking out everything in reality. I had time. Social media would just take up so much time out of our day and we wouldn’t even know it. Think about how much time scrolling and checking for 10 minutes every hour takes up. It’s a false world where we wish we could exist 24/7 but we cant. We take pictures to make us look good, post quotes to make us sound smart and speak to people we would never speak in real life to ever. It’s amazing how 10 years ago before these sites existed we were still entertained by life. Now it feels almost impossible to not use these sites. It’s an extra limb we have attained. Its sad in a sense, knowing no child born after today will be able to experience the way we grew up. Actually ringing doorbells and calling your crushes house phone hoping their mother or father wouldn’t pick up. Passing notes between friends. Actually printing your pictures out from disposable camera you bought today and sharing them with your friends the next day. It’s a new way a life and we must begin to adjust. If this is like this now, what’s it going to be like in the next 10 years?

“What used to be cigarette breaks could turn into ‘social media breaks’ as long as there is a clear signal and IT isn’t looking.” –   David Armano