A Day Without Social Media
Have you ever wonder within a blink of an eye not having your love ones around? Yes, the same love ones that you push aside when they just want to spend some time with you but instead what do you do? You prefer to be on your phone trying to create some sort of fake happiness with a bunch of strangers on social media.
Social
media platform such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Whats App etc. has caused a
huge impact on this generation today. According to a Pew survey carried out it showed 94 percent of teenagers are currently attached to mobile devices. Children’s within age group of three to four have
more knowledge on how to operate devices better than their parents.
The advanced
world of electronics has robbed the idea of a normal childhood for children. For
example, I can remember while
growing up most of my weekends would start off by getting the chores out of the
way and finishing up all homework’s given. Teens today prefer to spend time on social media while completing
tasks given to them including homework. According to Dr. Hamlet multitasking isn’t
impossible but what will happen is switching back and forth between two tasks will
be a cost to the brain since poorer concentration and constant interruption will
take longer than it should also it will cut into free time and causes stress.
A lot
of teenagers will disagree with Dr. Hamlet by saying social media do not cause
stress but once you get into the habit of obsessing over it and can’t shut it
off for a few minute there is a problem right there. Another research conducted
showed 60 percent of adolescents looking at their phones in the last hour before falling asleep by doing this they rob
themselves an hour rest. Blue light from electronic screens interferes with falling asleep; on top of that, checking social media is not necessarily a
relaxing or sleep-inducing activity.
Why do
we feel something might go wrong if we are disconnected from people who don’t really
know much about our real lives? Why do we post only the happy moments that aren’t always real, the
pretty images that looks completely different from our identity that is
decorated with filters trying to capture hearts and likes? Is it because we need to
seek validation? Or is it because we always want to be feel needed or accepted
by other people? Social media allows us to neglect our own thinking, it allows
us to feel not worthy of ourselves because everyone out there is portraying a life
that they desire and not a life they are living. A day without social media
will make you realize that the people around you, the same ones you don’t have
to compete with, thinks you matter and not the hundreds of thousand invisible friends
you are trying to keep up with.
A day without social media made me realized that
there is a lot more to life other than likes. My day started off great because my
family and I participated in the no phone challenge. We challenged ourselves to
be beside our gadgets with the volume up as usual but not touching it, instead
ignore it and spend time with each other. Chores were completed by 9:00am while lunch
was done by 11:00am. My second sister set the table because we haven’t sit as a
family in a long time, we had lunch together then the games begun, we played snake
and ladder, ludo, cricket, etc. The evening stepped in and we were in the verandah
eating plantain chips when my grandma came over to have a chat with my mom as
usual. Mom told her about the silly challenge that is going great so far and my
eldest sister asked her to recite scary stories like she did when we were
younger. I was never a fan of scary stories so I ended the night feeling
somewhat scared but everyone else ended their night laughing at me.
The no
phone challenge extended for another day with my family, yes we spent our
weekend without the use of gadgets and that is how we plan to spend our
upcoming weekends moving forward because it taught all of us that family time
matters instead of looking at people creating memories with their family
whether its real or fake, once our moments are real that is the only thing that
matters. As the old saying goes family are so close but yet so far, mobile
devices have driven us so far away from each other,
I think it’s time for it to stop, I think you should try the no phone
challenge, it's good to take a day and just learn how to connect with people
around you or even yourself. Trust me it’s worth it.
