Social Media

Everyone knows that social media is a very big part of everyday life now. My generation has grown up with technology where when many of our parents were growing up it was rare for someone their age to have a cellphone. They weren’t even the type of cellphones we have now. Their “cellphone” wasn’t used to check Twitter or add a new picture to Instagram. They didn’t even have text messaging. It was used purely for phone calls and most of those phone calls weren’t just for updating their friends on their new relationship status. They were for emergency calls for when their car broke down and got stranded somewhere. They didn’t have to worry about what people would think because they said one thing that differed from everyone’s opinions on a social media site where we can’t stop worrying about it.

Most of the time nowadays when we really need our phone for such cases, the battery life is at two percent because we’ve been tweeting all day. I can honestly say that if I really needed my phone at the end of the day without being able to plug it up at least once, I wouldn’t be able to use it because it’d be dead. I’m not saying social media and technology is terrible and we shouldn’t use it. I’m seriously not saying that at all trust me, because I’m typing this on a laptop as we speak. Social media and technology are such a big part of my life. I probably couldn’t go a week without my phone or the Internet, but what shouldn’t be a big part of my life is the insecurity that comes with it. I shouldn’t have to worry about what someone might say about me because I tweeted one stupid thing. What I am saying is that we need to get our priorities straight. We need to stop letting what other people are saying about everyone else on Twitter and Facebook dictate what we do or what we act on. Stop worrying about what people may think because of what you tweeted. As a society we need to stop letting people behind a computer screen dictate what we feel, do, and overall how we act upon situations that deal with one person: yourself.

Studies showed in 2009 that the average teenager spent 31 hours a week on their cellphones. Outside of school teenagers spend at least 7 ½ hours watching TV, sitting on the computer, and smart phones a day. That’s 7 ½ hours you’re never going to get back. Instead of coming home and going straight to the computer or TV, go outside and just walk around. Enjoy the nature that’s around you. Start focusing on what’s going on in your life instead of everybody around you. Start living for yourself and not the piece of plastic you carry in your pocket.

70% of teenagers report seeing cyber bullying while 68% agrees that it is an increasing problem. Statistics say that nearly 43% of kids are bullied online and only 1 out of 10 victims report the cases to a parent or trusted adult. Maybe, just maybe, if we stop focusing every aspect of our life around social media and technology we can focus on better things. You won’t have to worry about what that person is saying about you because you won’t be stuck on your phone worrying over it. Turn your phone, computer, TV, or whatever it is that’s keeping you from being yourself off for an hour a day. Then maybe we can go out and enjoy life like it’s supposed to be enjoyed without worrying about the “he said, she said” problem that’s been increasing ever since we got so addicted to the Internet. It’s not an easy problem that’ll be solved overnight. Of course it won’t be an overnight revolution, but if you start doing it maybe you can influence your friends to do the same thing. I personally need to work on this very thing myself. No revolution started out of nowhere. It has to start from a group of people willing to make changes for what they think will better the bad things in life. Be part of that revolution and maybe we can see a change. Maybe we’ll finally see that number of suicides go down because some fake person on the Internet isn’t harassing them anymore. Maybe we’ll see the number of happier people go up. Start a revolution and change for not just the better of everyone around you, but most importantly change so that you can be happier in your life the way you want to.

-Briana Griffin 

Follow me on twiter and instagram! @perksofbriana