Social Media is one of the most talked-about and used platforms for gossip, communication, and our lives. It overtakes our personal lives and ruins friendships, trust, and even jobs. I love using social media, but the question is, are you using it right?
I have had an anonymous guest wanting to submit this fantastic article we are all thinking about deep down. Fantastically written and eye-opening! How has Facebook affected your life?!
“I’ve always been a Facebooker (not so much Twitter/Pinterest etc.)
I play Facebook games and have quite a variety of friends. It occurred to me I spent quite a lot of my ‘free’ time on Facebook, and curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to see what life was like without Facebook.
Facebook was my life, so it was quite a big decision to make, but I thought I would deactivate my account for a bit, so I did.
I deactivated my account for a week. It was hard to get used to; you wake up in the morning, and while having a morning coffee, you flick through your newsfeed, but I soon got used to it. My’real friends’ had my number and email address so they could still get hold of me, and I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it; I just did it.
That’s when I realised how self-conscious people are. I had people asking why I had ‘blocked’ them. It didn’t occur to them; I might just want time out from the Facebook world; it was automatically about them and what they had done to piss me off. “
As the days went by, I got used to being my person and not having to live up to this ‘Facebook status.’ I took photos for myself instead of for my Facebook account. When I went somewhere, I didn’t ‘check in’ so everyone knew where I was.
I felt like I didn’t exist; let’s be frank: if you’re not on Facebook nowadays, it’s because a.) you don’t have any friends.) you’re not computer literate, orc.) you prefer to be a loner.
Of course, some people have accounts just to snoop and see what their friends do, but they don’t actually ‘post’ anything. It came to my attention that because I wasn’t on Facebook anymore, I didn’t have the stress of having to ‘update my profile’ with what I was doing and where I was going, and to be honest, I felt free.
Free from the Facebook world and having to live up to the facebook standard. I’m happy with my life and my chosen path, but it doesn’t mean I have to brag about it on social media.
I didn’t have to worry about posting pictures or statuses to see how many ‘likes’ i would get, and if I was down the pub, I was having conversations instead of checking my newsfeed and updating my profile. I did miss seeing what everyone was up to because who sends emails nowadays unless they’re professional?
Imagine this scenario
Your friend went on holiday, you’ve already seen the pictures, they have updated their status about what’s going on and checked into every place they’ve been.
You’re excited to see them after their holiday, but you don’t need to know about their holiday because you’ve practically lived it with them on Facebook. You meet up and what do you have to talk about?
Nothing. So instead of communicating in the real world, you’re speaking in ‘outer space. So, would people be more pleasant in the real world if it wasn’t for social media?
