i ignored my notifications for a day and it gave me a complex: an adventure in social-media cleanses

Before I even start, it’s writings like this that in starting this project I worried would come across as entitled - very much in the same vein as other think-pieces written by “enlightened” people, or people too close-minded to use the internet responsibly. Back in most of these people’s days, people read newspapers and other print material on public transportation. A generation or so later, people had handheld video game devices or portable sound systems. Today, we have smartphones. In today’s world where everyone is obsessed with always having something to do, much like back then, socializing with strangers in uncomfortable public settings is not and has probably not ever been at the top of anyone’s list.

We as a society need to accept that bashing people for the rise and use of technology or social media is no longer good content. In an increasingly productivity-driven world, not only is it a waste of time and a waste of a read to tell everyone through their phone to get off of their phone, but it’s also stupid-hypocritical to create and share content on social media that denounces the evils of social media.

This goes double if the author dares to ask what the heck a hashtag is. It’s 2019, so not only is a hashtag too ubiquitous to not know what it is, its function doesn’t even define how people use it anymore. Find another way to reach and try to stay relevant and relatable, please.

This isn’t to say that use of social media, especially in excess, is without consequences. I can attest to how it is in fact making us more and less social at the same time. I have friends on platforms that I have yet to meet in person, some of which even live in the same town and go to the same events I do. There are carefully-worded things I post on my platforms, deeply personal insights and innermost thoughts, that I wouldn’t think to mention in person. There are probably countless articles out there about how social media is not a complete representation of a person, and I agree with them - social media, while still somewhat representative of the person using it, is still very manufactured.

This sensation of constant scrutiny that came with social media’s rise to prominence, in my opinion, has brought about this need to make a positive showing out of everything. Think like people are posting their highlight reels while also constantly trying to edit raw footage and behind-the-scenes material. These highlight reels, however, when posted on any platform - whether positive or negative - can be reduced to shallow reaches for attention by the most bitter edgelords. While I firmly believe that it’s human nature and perfectly acceptable to want attention, for a good couple days this past February I was one of those bitter edgelords.

My passion for social media declined markedly after my 30th birthday, until eventually my increasing want to take a break from social media at the time happened to spike with the approach of Valentine’s Day. I was also having a less-than-good week where I was acutely aware of how single I was, so I decided to act. On February 13th of this year, I posted mentioning this break from social media for the entirety of the 14th. The unwritten, unspoken conditions I gave myself were as such: I would not post on or scroll through social media feeds, and I would not post, add to, or view any stories. The only exception I would make was to send snaps to keep Snapchat streaks going. Messenger services like Snapchat’s chat function, Facebook Messenger, direct-messages on other platforms and text messages were also exempt from this hiatus in case of emergency. All of this was simple in theory, but proved uneventful in practice.

For an entire day, I wrote ideas down instead of posting them, which almost felt like a punishment but sort of sparked this whole want to write again. Before long, I became aware of how this felt like an addiction where I kept picking my phone up, wanting to hear from my friends and wanting to stay informed on current events. At midday, to make this hiatus easier for myself, I ruled that direct snaps in Snapchat qualified more as direct messaging and less as social media than viewing or posting stories did. After a marginally more productive day at work, I came home and fell into my usual routine of Netflix and YouTube - because streaming services don’t count as social media. Plus, it was another long and hard day of being single and I needed my one or two vices.

After re-joining the living the following day, I was disappointed to find that I didn’t miss much. To add insult to injury, I also forgot that story-posts stay up for 24 hours and news-feed algorithms tend to bring days-old posts closer to the top. As happy as I was and still am for my friends and loved ones in relationships, the Valentine’s Day posts I thought I was successfully dodging still cropped up anyway. Regardless, I was back on my platforms, and posts and viewing and reacting all resumed as normal.

People who make big showings out of taking breaks from social media, or even leaving platforms all together, turn out to be some of my least favorite people. These people could have been good friends, friends whose contact information I didn’t otherwise have, people whose opinions or takes on current events I respected and looked forward to hearing, or people whose content I just enjoyed. Anytime these people leave, I do what I do best and take it personally. For one day this year, though, I was one of those people. While one day didn’t make much of a difference, the fact alone that I’m not considering taking another, longer break from social media speaks volumes about how important a part of my daily life it has become.

#relatable?