The perfect recipe to injure:
Scroll through Twitter, share a few thoughts, retweet a couple of people, go to Instagram. Scroll through Instagram and double tap a couple of pictures, like them, follow strangers, DM celebs, look at the “Explore” page, and then go to Facebook. Scroll through Facebook, share funny posts, creep on your high school crush, and then back to Twitter. Don’t forget to throw in a little of Snapchat to the mix and you have the continuous daily routine of most teens and young adults.
Don’t get me wrong- Social media is amazing no doubt about it.
It is one of the best ways to share ideas, opinions, routine practices and personal stories. Also, it is a resourceful tool for marketing and targeting specific people for little to no cost. But, no matter how flabbergasted the above mentioned things may seem, social media is also one of the aspect that is causing damage to our generation.
Technology itself has nearly ruined the ability for many people to do simple things such as make eye contact or carry on a conversation in person. Social media has contributed to that as well, plus it has also gone a step further and made us forget how we feel about certain things when we experience them in reality.
Now, my only question is, “Are we really enjoying our lives? Or are we trying to portray it to people that we are enjoying it?”
People proudly brag about their high number of retweets or likes on Facebook or Twitter, while all of this success is due to the fact that they have failed a class or that they were really drunk the other night.
You feel a sense of accomplishment because people either agree with what you say or find you hilarious, but do you find accomplishment about the actual situation you Tweeted?
So I advice you, whenever you choose to post something on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, try to think before sharing what you are about to share. Is your intention to receive likes and retweets? Or are you actually enjoying something so much that you want your experience to be shared with others? The next time you Snapchat an entire concert, ask yourself, is this to document memories I can later look back on or is this a way of boasting about what I’m doing?
It’s okay to feel a little jealous of a friend when you see them having a blast on their Snapchat story while you’re occupied in a boring activity, but just remember that these memories are for you and you only, there is no need to constantly document them.
Technological advancements are going to continue and new social media platforms will continually be created, it is up to us to remember to enjoy our lives for what they are instead of creating lives for others to enjoy and envy online. Live your life to your standards, not to everyone else’s.