Jane Doe just liked your status. Billy Bob commented on a photo. Oh retweet!
We all know what these are all about. I recently discovered that the average college student uses their phone, laptop, or any device to access media for about 12 hours a day….It was later brought to my attention that that’s half our day. We are in college for four years and half of those years are spent on our phones, laptops, ipads, and whatever other mode of reaching the internet or apps available to us.
It’s quite scary actually. To be honest I don’t think we really give any of this a second thought. Smartphones have made it so much easier for us to access our social media sites. Just download the app and click…you have your profile at the touch of a button. It’s pretty sad to see how much our life has been consumed by all of this.
When I was younger I was the kid that played outside, caught fireflys, and rode my bike around the block thousands of times, but now I’m the twenty-year-old college student with her head buried in the books, her fingers typing away on her laptop, and her eyes glancing every five seconds at her phone. You know at one point I never had a phone or a laptop. I was sixteen when I got my first phone. Before that I borrowed my Mom’s or my friend’s phones. I didn’t live for it but now I have a need for it. It’s not like I really need it. I won’t die without a phone or laptop. It’s more out of convenience because it’s how I stay in contact with people.
I’m not saying it’s bad but I learned today that you have to know when it’s too much. You have to realize when you’re living your life for the pleasure of having someone like your photo on Facebook or retweet your status on Twitter. I’ve gotten a lot better about pulling myself away but I do have my moments when I catch myself checking that blinking light for a notification when I’m talking to my friends or professors. It’s very rude. I admit it. It’s something I am working on. Is it something you could work on and change?
Let me quickly tell you a story:
When I was a senior in high school my Dad took away my phone for a week. I was so attached to texting my friends, updating my status, or just the feeling of it in my hand or pocket I threw a fit. I’m not proud of it but I went to my friend to borrow her spare phone and used that one for a week just fill that void I had. I mean how sad is that?! I couldn’t go one week without my phone? One week out of the 18 years I had been living….Would it really kill me? Obviously not.
If that story didn’t scare the media out of you then how about this….
Acts 2:36
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
He’s our master and we must obey. He’s our savior and we must trust that he will save us. Facebook and Twitter are not going to do that.
My words of advice to you are don’t be a slave to media…use it but use it wisely and with control. Be only a slave to God. In return you will be saved. The only thing social media will get you is likes, retweets, and maybe a tad bit of drama. So what do you say? Can you give up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all that jazz for a week?
You’re cute!
This reminds of me myself a lot!
Very Good Stephanie! When we were young and lived in Villa Park with Grandma GG and Grandpa Sherwin, we had a lock on our rotary telephone so none of the 7 children could make a call. My mom’s mother also lived with us as she had a stroke and slept in a bed in the dining room-the room where the telephone was. We never got to use the phone. It was always locked. We did not have cell phones even after we graduated. I got my first home phone when I moved away from home. PS, I didn’t get my first cell (not cell-but equivalent) phone until the 1990′s when the bag phone came out. It was plugged into the car. Next, they had pay as you go phones ($25 at a time). Then service started getting better. I did not get internet on my phone until two phones ago right before my IPhone. It was a Nokia…Bottom Line… I am sure I can lived one WEEK without a telephone…as I lived so many years without one. Don’t ever use it when I am on vacation up in Wisconsin….by Auntie Maureen’s or by Door County.