Social Media

Remember when you were young? How great it was to meet up with your best friend on the blacktop at recess and talk about how un-cool your parents are and what your sister did to you last night?

Remember when you had a pen-pal in a different state and it was the coolest feeling to get mail from them and then return the favor?

What the hell has happened?

 

Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest; they've become a part of our subconscious programming.

We now live in a world where he crave the recognition of other people who don't even know us! We pretend to be someone that others want to be around, so, we sit at our computer for 30 minutes trying to think of the perfect facebook status that will get you so man likes. Why?

Why do we feel the need to please other people through a series of inter-web lies? Who really are these "freinds" of ours? I can guarantee that you do not hang out with or physically socialize with 99% of your friends. So why are we all trying to hard to be liked? When did everyone start hating themselves?

Now, I am not saying social media is terrible, it has some great purposes:

1. You can reconnect with friends whom you haven't spoken to in years because of school/work/travel/etc
2. It is a great way to network with people or places you may want to become involved with later in life.
3. You can actually obtain pictures of yourself without having to go to Walgreens and wait for film to develop only to find out that half of them came out dark and blurry.
4. How would you ever know about that party you probably aren't going to go to?!

Social media is NOT a bad thing. It is, however, terrible how this generation relies on it so heavily.

Some 20-something do's and dont's about social media:

DO:

• See what people are up to
• Get in touch with long lost friends
• Check and see if there are any events in your area that tickle your fancy
• Find pages (on facebook) that you enjoy and want to know more about
• This would include companies, theatres, restaurants (coupons and such), your college campus, the town you live in, that coffee shop around the corner you're secretly obsessed with, etc
• Checking out those pictures your friend put up from their trip to Italy
• Share your successes with others
• This can be tricky because if you do it wrong, it falls into "bragging". When I say successes, I mean a production you're in at college, that dream job you finally got, the birth of your child, etc. In short, post something worth the time of others.

DON'T

• Comment on every FB status or picture you see
• Complain about ANYTHING
• Seriously, don't complain
• Just don't do it
• Share personal experiences that many to all people will find uncomfortable
• This includes, but is not limited to:
• that boy you kissed who shoved his tongue down your throat
• how you pooped the table during child birth
• that time at that club when that guy totally grabbed your ass
• how much supposed swag you have 
• something like this, is not okay:

• Express your feelings of sexism and racism
• Upload pictures of you doing sexy things
• Talk to your ex. AT ALL
• Brag
• See "sharing your success with others" in the DO list
• ASSUME ANYTHING

"Why is that last one seem like it's yelling at me?" you may wonder. Well, friend, I will tell you. Assuming anything on the social media will destroy your life. Take everything you see for what it is: "unimportant".

You see some girl posting on your BF's wall? Cool.
You think someone is talking about you? Whatever.
That picture of you looks terrible and the bitch that put it up clearly has it out for you? I don't care.

Repeat after me:
IT IS NOT LIFE.

Social media is like a tiny parasite that eats its way through your brain and controls your from the inside. And, what most people don't know, is how easy it is to get rid of. Facebook is NOT an addiction. You do not need it and it does not control you. Facebook and every other social media site is put on the internet to distract your from real life. And, hey, sometimes we need a distraction every now and then. But don't let it become the most important part of your life. If you find yourself on the internet for 3 hours straight doing absolutely nothing progressive, it's time to rethink your life choices and maybe pick up a hobby. You are just distracting yourself from important things that NEED to get done. Life is not in a computer; it's all around you and you're not going to experience it unless you go out and find it.

Full disclosure: I have been one of those "don't" people. I am not perfect. At all. Like, not even close. Pinterest is my downfall.