On February 9th, Carmen Simon took up a challenge few would be capable or willing to doing. Simon, committed to a week without any social media contact, no connections, no tweets, no snap streaks, and not a single instagram post.
The lack of distraction, created more time than Simon knew she had. During the school week Simon went to cheer practice and would have time to do all of her homework before midnight.
Nonetheless, although the social media hiatus was freeing, Carmen admitted that there was difficulties, “The hardest part of this week was when people around me were talking about things people tweeted, posted or snapped.”
“The first couple of days were really easy,” Simon claimed.
It was a little rough for the first day because Simon had to break her habit of opening up her social media. But as time went on and her habits more distant, the task seemed to get easier. Carmen was determined to go without social media for a week and she was not going to give up.
As time went on Carmen got into the routine of not opening up her social media folder. Each day she denied herself the temptation of opening her twitter, instagram, etc. Instead of using social media, she spent more time on school and cheer, and mentally preparing herself for the track season coming up. She spent all her time doing something productive instead of wasting it looking at passing and irrelevant posts on a timeline.
“I wanted to open up my social media folder really bad, but I knew I could go a week without social media so I took my mind off of it by focusing on school more,” said Simon.
With a whole lot of determination Carmen was able to successfully go a week without social media.
“In that week I got to stop comparing myself with other people… I worried about myself more than others. It was a great week without all the rumors, dramas, and other irrelevant stuff.”
Social media has a lot of impact on people’s lives. Many spend most of their time comparing themselves with others which lead issues with self confidence.There is a negative effect on society. Issues online can consume your physical, real life with something taking place in a virtual world. It can ruin an image or help people paint an unrealistic picture of themselves. You can look at social media with a positive or negatively, but it is hard to argue whether or not it affects the everyday lives of people. With 94% of teens using social media it is hardly a question, it’s obvious that it does.
Carmen said a week without social media was relaxing. She didn’t worry about how many likes she got on a photo or who saw her snapchat story. She did not seek her own self worth or validation from the people around her, but instead was able to focus on her own self image. She spent time on the things that actually matter.
So what if, we all unplugged. What if we all pledged to a week without social media? How would our lives change? The only way to find out is to take the challenge for yourself.
