Archive for October 10, 2011
Bridget’s Reflection #2
0As much as I hate to admit it, a withdrawal from social media would likely affect me. These websites have become so ingrained into our culture and everyday lives that being without them is strange. Every morning I get up; check my email, Facebook and Twitter. When I need a study break I again go back to Facebook and Twitter. If I was unplugged I would definitely have more time in my day overall and because I would probably finish my homework sooner.
I decided to become unplugged from Twitter. I don’t have a smartphone, but I am able to text tweets. I do this various times during the week and I wanted to challenge myself to stop the text tweeting. When I actually unplugged I made it a day or so, which is really kind of sad that I only made it that long. It was nice not thinking about Twitter and what the world was tweeting constantly. This was kind of difficult because I could easily just tweet from my phone, but stopping before doing so definitely required an interesting thought process.
Fully unplugging from these websites can be extremely difficult. I know that Facebook is a lot of times a method of communication between groups or organizations. Therefore there is a lot of information that is necessary to read every day. But in reality there are others ways to communicate. Social media is seemingly taking over our lives and living with it in moderation needs to be a top priority.
Ginnye Cubel Reflection #2
0Reflection #2 : Social Media Withdraw
Without having experienced a complete social media withdraw I think I would have to say I don’t think it would really affect my daily routine. I’m pretty low key when it comes to social media to begin with (I forget I have it half the time!) so a complete unplugging would probably wouldn’t be that much different than what I do now.
Now that I’ve spent a few days “unplugged” it was a little harder than I imagined. I think the hardest thing about it was feeling out of the loop, especially when friends would ask me if I was going to such-and-such event and I had no idea what they were talking about because it was a Facebook only invite. But overall it wasn’t too bad—I found I had a lot less stress when I wasn’t worrying about Facebook updates or racing to get on Twitter between classes. So in the process I learned that social media tends to create a lot more stress in my life than anything. Sitting quietly 5 minutes before class starts is a lot more calming than frantically checking my Facebook page.
I think a good compromise between social media and the social world is to disconnect them somewhat from one another. Mainly I think when you’re out and about in the social world you should try putting social media to the side and instead focus on making genuine connections with the people around you. Basically I would suggest using social media only when it doesn’t infringe on your interaction with the social world. So don’t be checking your Twitter newsfeed when you’re meeting your best friend for coffee!
I really enjoyed “unplugging” for a few days! I definitely think it’s going to be something I start incorporating into my everyday life.