Sorry if I missed your birthday…

I’ve been back online for about two weeks and I have to say…I think I liked life better without the social media! It sounds crazy, but it’s an extra job to check through everything and make sure that I’m not missing anyones exciting news. I’ve realized that I’m an “online cheerleader” for my friends and family and that’s something that I missed while on my hiatus. For example, I missed my cousins exciting news online about her engagement, someone else had a baby,and someone else got a new job. While I heard about these things through the grape vine (and through my Grandma who we call “central command”), I missed that congratulatory aspect of  people’s big news. And this includes birthday’s…sorry for those who did not get the instagram/Facebook post on your big day.

What I did love about the hiatus, is that I started to pay a lot more attention to politics and the world around me. Instead of scrolling through Facebook on my daily commute or when I was walking through the airport, I would look at my ABC News app or my FoxNews app. I pay a lot more attention to what’s going around me now, and that’s not because I felt I had nothing else to do at the time, but it was because I felt like it was time to start caring more about the current events that are going on that I used to just turn my head to because it didn’t involve me.

What I also loved about this hiatus is that I was able to avoid the specific things that I really didn’t care to see anyways. That ex-boyfriend thing or that girl who always made me feel small…no offense to ya’ll but I did not care to see what you were up to this summer. Sometimes I wish I could be more selective with the things I see online, but then again that’s a choice I make everyday when I log into any social media app…I chose to see anything I want to.

In a previous post, I mentioned that social media is just one big platform for our competitive nature, which led to my cheat day back in late June. While off social media, I couldn’t have been more grateful to not have to constantly show people what I was up to or how cool my internship was. Let’s face it, it’s in all of us millennial’s who grew up with social media…that constant comparing to others. It’s bad enough when you see that skinny girl at the mall with some hot shot, but its even worse when you constantly see her online posting an ungodly amount of selfies, of course looking perfect in every single one. So while I was off of social media, I was able to dodge the overwhelming competitive nature of my followers.

So what did I do when I got back on social media? First thing I did was log on to instagram and check out what some of my closest friends had been up to during the summer and then went on a liking rampage. Ironically, the weekend I went back on all social media was the same weekend that I was headed to a wedding in Ohio…so sure enough about 4 instagram posts later, everyone knew I was at a beautiful wedding! However, I have noticed that since I’ve been back online, I don’t check my social media accounts as often as I used to which is definitely an improvement for me.

But this hiatus didn’t have the intention of “changing me” or making me more aware of my surroundings. The intention was to see just how much social media has influenced my life and what the absence of it has done for me. I will never be done exploring this issue and I will continue to research and pay attention to the way social media has morphed our society.

Weeks 2, 3, 4 of the Hiatus

I’ll admit it. I cheated…but for a good reason.

In these past few weeks I have been exceptionally busy with my internship and have not had time to blog about my experience on the social media hiatus. In the past 4 weeks I have traveled to  4 different cities! One of which was this past weekend in Salt Lake City where we had another Delta Air Lines Block party event, this time in a Delta hanger. Not only was this trip incredible because we were literally adjacent to the runway at the airport, but my experience in Salt Lake city was something that I truly wanted to share with the world. I cheated and posted on Instagram twice. Does this make me a failure at this whole hiatus thing? At first I thought so, but I think this just adds to my fun summer experiment.

Let’s think about why we post on social media in the first place. We post to share our lives with others and showcase our experiences and involvements. And why do we want to show others? There are many reasons for this obsessive sharing that we have at times. One of which includes showing off to others about what you are up to. I’m not going to lie about this, but I posted this past weekend because I wanted my friends and classmates to see how awesome and fun my internship is. I have been so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to help out at the events my team has spent so long planning. Therefore I wanted to show others the incredible time I was having in Salt Lake City. It’s no lie that this is one of the main reasons why we post. I knew this before this little experiment that , but I didn’t realize how much I would be influenced to post. My co-workers were all posting and I felt left out. It’s the small things like not being able to see photos that your tagged in, not being able to come up with clever captions, liking others photos, and most importantly being able to feel closer to people because you see their actions.

Which brings me to my next point. I think another reason we share a lot with the world is for social reasons. If I haven’t seen anyone in a while and I know that I am going to run into them somewhere, I’ll catch up on their social media accounts to see what they’ve been up to. I think this is because we fear awkward social interactions. This is just a handful of us, but I am someone who does feel socially awkward at times if I don’t know what to say to people who I am not entirely close with. Social media can be that leaning board at times because you can say things like “I saw you were recently in the city, how was that?” or something of the sort. We lean on social media a lot to understand and get to know each other better without physically asking each other basic catchup questions. This is one of the main reasons why I am excited to go back in the fall because many of my friends will have minimal knowledge of my time in and out of Atlanta.

Another component to this cheating act I committed is that I couldn’t just cheat and post one image. I had to cheat and post two images along with checking out my co-workers accounts to see what they posted on the trip. This shows just how addicting social media is for me. I had been off all accounts for almost a month so when I re-downloaded Instagram I was like a kid in a candy shop just snatching up all I could before I forced myself to hold back. Is this how people feel when they are addicted to drugs? Ok that’s too far…but you see my point. What I fear for when this experiment is over is that I will go right back to the way I was prior to the hiatus. While my goal for this hiatus isn’t to change my social media habits but rather look into the effects of the absence of social media…I am hoping it will lessen my usage.

On another note, did anyone see the recent Dixie ad featuring the idea of going Dark for Dinner?  This ad features family’s and friends enjoying each other’s company without a phone in sight. Everyone is laughing and telling stories and clear bonding is occurring. You may ask how is this an ad for the paper plate company…and it’s a stretch. It took me while until I read the ad week article which explained the company’s message. The company wants consumers to start using Dixie products for Sunday dinners to encourage them to talk longer with each other and not have to worry about any dishes that need to be done. Cleaver, eh? I bring this up because not only is the technology industry catching onto our society’s obsession with our mobile devices, but so are unrelated industries such as the paper product industry. Even humanitarian organizations are catching on by taking a different angle involving cyberbullying issues. In UNICEF’s recent ads, they feature images of kids pointing their phones at other kids as if they are guns. Cyber bullying is an entirely different issue, but it goes to show the way social media is affecting the generations below mine. Check out the UNICEF images here (scroll down), the ad was rated one of the best outdoor campaigns around the world.

Side note: Check out that entire article which includes the top 18 outdoor ads from around the world…what creativity these agency’s have to really make an impact on many social issues! So many of them involve the use of technology. Take a look at the video featuring No Somos Delito (We Are Not Crime) which features the first ever Hologram Protest.

That’s all for now, hopefully I wont cheat on the hiatus this weekend when I head home to Syracuse for the fourth of July!

~Katie G

 

 

Social Media Hiatus: Week 1

This past week I was in Minneapolis for a Delta Block party for my internship with ignition! I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to blog like I’ve wanted to for the start of my Social Media Hiatus. Alas, I finally found time to share an update about my experiences so far.

During my first week of being completely detached from all social media accounts, I have noticed a few things that I am slowly getting used to. For one, I have found myself scrolling through my ABC News app a bit more viewing the highlights of daily news. I am not a news junky by any means…in fact I tend to avoid news if I can unless it pops up on my social media accounts. Without social media, I am finding myself needing to scroll through something else on my phone while I wait in line, travel to work, or when eating my lunch. My thumb must have realized it wasn’t getting its hourly “scroll through” workout and had to come up with an alternative.

Whenever I travel anywhere, I always like to check-in to Facebook with my location and destination. This is definitely a symptom of online competitiveness. When I traveled to Minneapolis for work, it felt really strange to not tell all of my followers where I was headed next, especially since I updated everyone of my whereabouts while I was abroad. Instead, I found myself texting my mom a bunch of emoji airplanes with “MINNEAPOLIS BOUND” as if to make a pretend status update…that would only go to my mom. However, despite this change, I have found it fun to tell people in conversations what my week was like and tell them where I’ve been without them already knowing through my social networks. This fall I look forward to having some quality conversations with friends and family to update them about my summer, without them nodding their heads like they already knew.

I am not entirely used to the FOMO (fear of missing out) aspect of this adventure. My sister is currently in the process of moving to Charlotte, North Carolina and I feel left out of everything she is most likely posting to social media. I feel bad for not commenting or liking any of her material (sounds super #Basic, but its true). In addition, my uncle recently had a huge benefit gala for his non-profit organization in LA, and I missed all the great pics from the event! The positive of this is that it forced me to set aside time to talk to him about the event. I also am missing friends and family’s birthdays because Facebook is the only way I know when everyone’s are. I guess that means I don’t have to worry about making sappy birthday posts for a while?

Stay tuned for an update about “Alone Together” which is the social media/ technology book I am currently reading to go along with this project!

~Katie G

 

 

The Social Media Hiatus

Our world is tainted by the latest technologies around us. With the fastest growing industry in the world, technology has taken over almost every aspect of our lives. Once thought of as a blessing and a savior, the online tool can now be seen as something that hinders the success of our overall well-being. Though it is not easily recognizable, there are parts of our lives that have developed in a virtual sense, getting in the way of our private lives, our relationships, our social skills, and much more.  Authors like Sherry Turkle of Alone Together, point out the flaws in our ever-changing society. Even though I’m only 19 pages into her book so far, Turkle has brought out some incredible thoughts that I didn’t even know about myself and my behaviors towards social media and technology.

 I’ve always hated the way my friends and I whip out our smartphones whenever there is a dull moment in a conversation. I hate the way we discuss the types of pictures we’ll post to our Instagram accounts to ensure the most amount of likes (timing is everything when it comes to Instagram). I hate the way I can’t get through a full movie without checking my phone at least 10 times if not more. I hate the way any type of romance or potential romance is centered around actions on social media and texting behaviors. I hate the way I’ve stopped writing letters to my grandparents who live in Florida because it takes too much time and commitment to send something out. I hate how comfortable I feel when I share personal moments with the world. I hate the way Facebook has turned into a shrine of self-achievements making me always feeling like I’m not doing enough to compete with my peers. I hate the way I feel when I am without my phone for more than a few minutes and my anxiety sets in. I hate how I feel the need to constantly live up to the persona that I have created on social media, always worrying that they won’t match. And I have hated the way social media has made me unproductive at times.  

As an independent project that I will be continuing into the fall semester, I have decided to go on a social media hiatus this summer to discover what it is like to be disconnected and understand just how much social media has impacted my life. I will be paying close attention to my behavioral affects and how the absence of social media affects my anxiety. I will also be looking at what takes the place of social media and how I feel I can benefit from the change. In addition I will be seeing how my social skills with my family and the public change throughout this journey.  I will be off social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) for 8 weeks from June 2^nd -August 2^nd and I encourage you all to follow this blog along my journey. While some may consider a blog a form of social media, I believe extensive writing is the best way to get your thoughts out and share with others the insights you’ve found. I’m not hoping to change anyone’s social media habits or change their entire technology involvements. But I do hope that this journey will lead to some sort of eye opening experience for both myself and anyone else whom choses to think about our active media bubble. Technology has changed our world in so many positive ways and this isn’t to say that technology should cease to exist. Rather this journey is about discovering how social media has really affected our lives and how deep those affects have really gone.

Stay tuned for updates on my journey as I hope to blog two to three times a week.  

~Katie G