Social Media
forms an integral part of almost every individual and I am no less. I will be
taking you all through my first stint with it to my experience, the sabbatical
and finally my word on what it takes to belong to Social Networking.
My first
stint with Social Media
I still remember
the day when I created an account on the social media site Orkut, 18/10/ 2006,
two days after my birthday and it changed the way I communicate forever, I was
introduced to a very addictive and an extremely powerful way of communication
it was "Social Media”.
My present
I have sent more
than 20,000 tweets, posted pretty nearly 300 refined photographs of pretty much
everything happening in my life on Instagram, registered with unreasonably
numerous places on Facebook check in, constructed a 100% complete LinkedIn
profile, and posted more than 20,000 times on Facebook (clearly squandering
just about two months of my life the whole time). I see my Face book timetable
and Twitter notices in my fantasies. I depend on Google and Yelp for everything
and I feel I am pretty much empty without social media.
The
Sabbatical
I decided to
take an off for a couple of days when I initially had to do this assignment.
Thus, I was
prompted to take a "Social Media Sabbatical" for 2 days, at first I
was not sure about it, but my close friend did it a month ago and it changed
her perspective of relationships and communication. I also consulted my husband
of 2 years who responded with a resounding "YES”. One of the main reasons
why I wanted to do this was to make sure I was not addicted to Face book
especially after reading this journal which says "Face book Use Predicts
Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults".
Self realizations:
It was a
wonderful insight into my life without social media, for 2 days I never knew
what my friends were up to, what my favourites stars were doing, the latest
quiz and the trends the viral videos and the most satisfying of all stop
receiving candy crush requests from my friends. I never had the urge to check
my social feeds, I guess it also had to do with the fact that I knew it was
just 48 hours, but it was a wonderful experience.
·
Spent quality time
"talking to people I love ".
·
Visited restaurants and places
with a focus of experiencing the feel and the ambience, than taking pictures to
post on my twitter, instagram and facebook, and fretting over how people would
react.
·
Wrote a journal, logging my
daily routines, with a "pen".
·
Slept on time, than gazing my
phone in the darkness.
Most important
of all, spent quality time reflecting on myself, my thoughts and thinking about
the time without smart phones and how productive I could have been.
Reality
Bites:
After 2 days when
I logged back in to my system, like the world had stopped for a moment, I had
56 face book alerts, 89 unread mails, 112 private messages, and I missed so
much including my friend’s birthday, I would never have missed the birthday
thanks to face book alerts, and the worst of all I missed out a very good deal
on a purchase I made on my sabbatical , only if I would have checked my mail
there was a coupon worth 15$ waiting for me to be redeemed . It made me think
the benefits of social media, of course it helps me save money and gather
information and also keep in touch with me relatives and friends in a cost
effective way. Moreover, the capacity to stay in contact with loved ones
permits us to keep up closer binds to our friends and family crosswise over
long separations.
In a nut shell,
social media is a double edged sword, it depends on how you use it and what you
make of it, it also reminds me of a proverb my dad used to always remind me of
“too much of anything is bad”. Social media is a wonderful tool and experience
but it should be used in a way that benefits us and makes us better in every
way and not otherwise.
References:
Facebook Use
Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. (n.d.). Retrieved
February 24, 2015, from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069841
Stroble T.
(2010). A Magical Block of Time:
Lessons Learned from my Digital Sabbatical
