OBSESSIVE: Could a community’s fixation on social media status be detrimental?
By Chloe Vega, Staff Editor
Imagine waking up in the morning to the gentle chirping of birds outside and soft sunlight shining through your window. You wake up feeling relaxed and well rested, ready to begin a new day. Now, instead, come to terms with what is likely the harsh reality of waking up to a blaring alarm, fumbling for your phone and blinding yourself as the screen illuminates the dark room.
From our early waking hours, we are engrossed in the endless stream of information our phones provide. Texts, news reports, and miscellaneous notifications provide constant updates on the world around us, as well as constant distractions. With every second that we aren’t engaged in our physical world, we are drawn deeper into its digital counterpart. But how far is too far?
According to tech news site Recode, the average person will spend around 50 minutes a day, per application, on social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram. 50 minutes out of of 24 hours might not seem like very long, but when mindlessly scrolling through aesthetically pleasing photos or opening ten-second pictures from friends, that time may seem excessive. And that time just applies to the average person. For celebrities, social media influencers, or even mere teenagers, 50 minutes of social media exposure a day could be the bare minimum.
The population’s obsession with social media seems to stem from human’s inherent need to be accepted by a group. Some people dedicate hours of their day to the upkeep of their social media persona: modeling for the perfect ‘postworthy’ picture, staging a photoshoot with every meal, or even traveling to a destination simply because it’s “Instagrammable.” And then what happens after they’ve posted? The “likes” roll in. Instagram alone has over one billion users worldwide, according to Statista.com, and every day millions of users spend at least an hour of their time browsing, liking, and posting content.
Is this physically or mentally healthy? Instead of potentially spending the equivalent of five years of their lives on social media, should people instead force themselves to go outside and see the environment as it truly is? Polluted and chaotic, but simultaneously full of serenity and real emotion. If you woke up one day without your phone, your world could open up to numerous new opportunities and experiences impossible to achieve by living through a screen. But hey, then you wouldn’t have all those cool filters.