Not because I don't love you all! It goes deeper than that, I swear. You see, social media is taking over everything! So much so that I’m literally expecting – in five or so years – my closest friends to send me invitations to their weddings via facebook event invites. It's that real.
I’m not a prude whose only purpose in writing this blog is
to nag about social media – I understand social media. I really do, I get it.
It’s sexy. It’s a convenient way to keep in touch with people. It’s a fun way
to share memories. It’s a cool platform to show off your new body after you
religiously hit the gym all summer. I get it, I do.
But I’ll tell you what bothers me about social media – no, it’s
not the impersonal air of the “happy birthday” wishes, not the obnoxious [and
mostly rude] attacks on opinionated status updates, and not even the annoying handful who feel the compulsive need to keep everyone updated on their lives –
what bothers me the most is the feeling of performing.
Everything has become a performance. Rather than living in
the moment and experiencing the beauty within it, we choose to take pictures of
the moment so that we can “tweet” or “instagram” it. We allow our technology to
lavish the moment rather than taking it in ourselves. We’ve become obsessed with
capturing the perfect photo, penning the perfect description, and enacting the
perfect performance. Everything is now a stage and society is your
director, producer, light designer and star. But as irony would have it, you are actually your own one-woman (or
man – there’s no sexism here) show. Everything you read, everywhere you go—even
all that you eat is online! Know what scares me the most about all of
this? People love it. I love it. They relish it. I relish it.
I’ve lost that feeling of excitement when I meet my friends
after long periods of separation. Now, I know that everything will inevitably
turn into a photo-shoot to show/prove how fierce our wardrobe is. It’s gotten
to the point that I’m restricted from wearing certain outfits because I already
have albums in which I wear them! Or reversely, my friends beg me to wear a
certain outfit because they liked the way that I looked in it.
I’m not an actor, I’ve never aspired to be an actor and I
can honestly say that I never will. So this constant social performance weighs
on me. Hard.
I have literally been in situations in which I reunite with
people who I haven’t seen for months, and within 10 minutes of reuniting, they
are either tweeting about our “special” reunion or checking new status updates
about who else has reunited. I don’t think that I need to go into depth about
the tragic irony that exists within this dichotomy.
With all of that said, I have one final announcement. I am
quitting all social media. I’m going to start at a one-month minimum and
hopefully work my way to three consecutive months (all summer). It’s time for
me to stop performing and start living!
I challenge you all to do the same with me! You have no idea
how liberated you’ll feel! I’m excited just thinking about it! Don’t be afraid
to take the plunge.
Start experiencing!
(Ok, I'll admit that this photo was a bit performed. BUT now that I no longer have social media, I can start enjoying nature––smelling the roses and chatting with statues––on my own terms!)
