I told myself at the beginning of this trip that I would not use social media the entire time I was there. And for the most part I have kept my promise to myself. There have been a couple times I logged on so I could add a friend or tag myself in a photo or look something or someone up, but I really haven't scrolled through my newsfeed the majority of the trip.
And I have to say I didn't realize how freeing it was until I scrolled through this morning after waking up early to pass the time. Suddenly the wave of concern for what other people were doing came back, and I didn't like it. Do I really care about what other people are doing this much? And if so, then why do I care so much? I have nothing to prove to any of my social media "friends" and no obligation to show them what I am doing. I would be lying if I said I'm not excited to post pictures when I get home to show people my trip. But am I just excited about the photos or was I excited about people seeing them?
Unplugging from social media has shown me who I truly am concerned about and who I truly miss. The only people I have thought about and missed while I was away were my family, boyfriend, and close friends. That was it. I didn't think about my old sorority sister who got engaged, or that couple who got married, or those people that traveled with their friends, or my ex boyfriend and what he is doing with his life, or the people who just graduated and are getting jobs. I haven't cared about keeping up with what anyone was doing. The people who I care about most know they can contact me while I am away, and they have been. So I haven't needed Facebook or Instagram to keep up with them. It's not that I am not interested in what people I don't see anymore are doing with their lives, it's just that I am not obligated to know about, or care about it. It was becoming a chore to try to keep up with everything and everyone on the world.
If I run into them in the future then sure they can tell me all about it. But I would rather hear about it from them instead of a computer screen. I can see wedding photos, engagement pictures, new babies, and travel videos all day long on social media, but that doesn't tell me how the bride cried while she said her vows, or how the guy dropped the ring while he was down on one knee, or how the new baby makes a funny noise when it giggles, or how someone almost got left in a foreign country while traveling with a group. Facebook doesn't tell me these things, people do. I would rather meet your new spouse, or congratulate you on your engagement, or hear your baby giggle, or see you relive the terror of almost being left IN PERSON rather than give it a thumbs up from miles away.
I understand in this day and age it is pretty unrealistic to see everyone you would like to see all the time because we are all busy people. But we have to make time for people and not Facebook, make time for dinner and not working late, make time for weekend getaways and not weekend house cleaning, make time for talking with people not texting them. The people I love most are the most important thing in my life, and I don't make enough time for them. But I can give social media at least an hour of my day everyday? No. That is not okay. Rather than scrolling through my newsfeed every night before bed, I should be sitting with my family, enjoying their presence. Rather than putting off visiting with those I haven't seen for a month because I have to edit and upload pictures, I should be visiting with them.
I challenge you, especially if you are from my generation of social media obsessed humans, to try to unplug for 1 week. I understand that it is a little easier for me to do since my wifi access is limited and I am distracted from boredom by traveling. But if you already feel a twinge in your gut from reading that sentence because you don't want to give that up, then you know you need to try it. I was there just a few weeks ago. But when you aren't comparing your life to everyone else's, you come to realize just how great your life is, and how you don't need everyone else's approval to live it.
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