BY LAUREN SHARKEY / VN STAFF WRITER
Well, that was an enlightening week.
In my previous Varsity News article, before spring break, I announced I would be signing off social media for a week to see how it would feel and how it would impact me.
I was a full-on social media addict.
And, worse, I wasn’t able to go more than ten minutes without checking my phone.
Even while writing that first news article, I checked my phone at least 15 times. (The experiement wouldn’t start until the story was published, right?)
It’s crazy how addictive our cell phones can be.
Throughout the weeklong experiment, I learned how truly hooked I was. It honestly scared me.
I would unlock my phone without even thinking all the time and then realize I didn’t have access to social media on my phone.
I wasn’t even thinking about doing it; it just happened.
This lasted a total of two days before I started to realize, “Okay, I don’t have social media on my phone so I need to stop thinking I do.”
During the week, I noticed just how many people had their faces in their phones all of the time.
My boyfriend and my best friend, for example.
I would get annoyed because they would be on their phones and I couldn’t be on mine.
I also started to notice that I was more aware without social media, paying attention to my surroundings and the people that I was with.
It also resulted in my getting extra sleep.
One major downside: I truly missed it when the high school shooting happened in Florida.
I had to hear it through other people, which made me want to get on social media to find out what was going on.
I even knew a girl who had graduated from that high school years ago.
But, on the upside, my experiment put me in a lot better mood for the most part.
Sure, I did get that FOMO (fear of missing out) feeling when my teammates would talk about something they saw on social media. But it went away almost as fast as it came.
A lot of us get too focused on other people and what everyone else is doing.
Cutting out social media helped me live in the moment that entire week.
Overall, I loved the experiment and would do it again.
But, no, I’m not giving up social media permanently.
I can’t pretend to say that I’m stopping.
One lesson: The things I missed out on were the things I didn’t really care much about in the first place.
My closest friends all knew I was going off social media so they knew not to send me anything important.
I reccomend that everyone try a week free of social media.
It was a fun and enlightening challenge.
