How "Social" is "Social Media" Anyway?

As I was laying in bed perusing through Pinterest the other night, I came across this e-card…. hold on, time for a quick side thought:

I often wonder how many people in the world are doing the same exact thing as I am at any given moment… you know exactly what I’m talking about, too. Picture it (heck, you might even be doing it right now): Your iPhone is plugged into the wall next to the bed, so that you have to lay on your side on the very edge of the bed, at an awkward angle, head cocked so the screen won’t flip on you as you scroll through the latest posts, while simultaneously checking your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, texts (or lack thereof, depending on the night) to see what new and exciting picture or status update someone (anyone!) posted in the last 5 seconds since you last checked. Then all of a sudden you realize 2 hours have gone by and you have to work in the morning and you don’t even remember or care about anything you just read, liked, retweeted, or pinned. So you finally fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning with one eye squinted open to frantically check what the social media world did without you in the 6 hours you spend asleep. You think to yourself, man, I sure am tired and wasted a lot of time on my phone last night. I won’t let that happen again tonight. So you go through your day, intermittently checking the aforementioned social media sites (maybe you’ll even check out a couple of the news updates, because after all, you want to make sure you’re up to date on REAL news happening in the world as well). You’ll go to work, maybe go to the gym (probably not), make some dinner (frozen hot pocket, check), catch up on your DVR (while sitting on the couch, on your phone, repeating the routine I described from the night before), get ready for bed, lay down and think about how exhausted you are from such a long, busy day (I mean, all that time spent reading about other people’s lives can really take a toll on a person), and then you roll over and…… plug your iPhone into the wall next to the bed, so that you have to lay on your side on the very edge of the bed, at an awkward angle, head cocked so the screen won’t flip on you as you scroll through the latest posts, while simultaneously checking your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, texts (or lack thereof, depending on the night) to see what new and exciting picture or status update someone (anyone!) posted in the last 5 seconds since you last checked. Then all of a sudden you realize 2 hours has gone by and you have to work in the morning and you don’t even remember or care about anything you just read, liked, retweeted, or pinned. So you finally fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning with one eye squinted open to frantically check what the social media world did without you in the 6 hours you spend asleep.

Haha, catch my drift? Now let’s throw in a possible twist to the story: maybe on night #2 of the week, you invite a few friends over to catch up on your DVR with you. Take a minute to notice how they most likely fall right into the same cycle laid out in the scenario above.

Aside from blaming it on being in the midst of my quarter life crisis, I would have to say that technology (although it can be a GREAT thing) just might have a negative impact on the way many of us 20-somethings are living our lives. We are constantly swallowed up in the social media world of comparing ourselves to others, checking up on what people we would probably not even encounter in real life are doing at all hours of the day, and above all, losing sight of the genuinity of really spending quality time with others.

Quality time. And no, that does not mean sitting across from an old friend over a cup of coffee while looking at, texting via, scrolling through, etc… on your phone. Put the darn thing down for an hour. Heck, I’d imagine it’d be hard for most people to even do that long, so maybe start low and try 15 minutes at a time. Look the other person in the eye. Talk. Smile. Laugh. Hold hands and sing kumbaya (okay just kidding, things are starting to get a little weird now). Communication is meant to be between two people, not two electronic devices.

I admit I’m guilty of being a victim to social media. I bet you are too. Sometimes all it takes finding an e-card while on a social media site (can anyone say ironic? ha) as a friendly reminder that just because we are in the age of technology doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a step back every once in awhile and remember the power of face-to-face time (and no, I did not say FaceTime).

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