Sunday Success: Shut Up, My Social Media Obsession is Rational

Editor's Note: Sunday Success is a weekly blog dedicated to documenting the frustrations, difficulties and humor in developing ridiculous amounts of success in college.

Waking up has its own ritual, of course. I roll over on my left side and before I even consider cracking open my eyes, my hand furiously hunts down the little digital box that is my phone. I need to know how others are handling their “waking up” process. Are people already progressing with their lives? What kind of Starbucks drinks are friends slapping a “totally-whoa-that’s-so-vintage” filter on? Please just tell me. So, I actually build my schedule around the early morning of catching up on my social media. I mean, the first sign of an addiction is probably the life-altering effects it’s already having on your daily life, right? Don’t answer that, please.

But, my thoughts this morning are dedicated to the idea that relying on social media “too much” is not all that threatening to this generation. Granted, maybe in the past the outlet for our feelings and thoughts was a cup of coffee and a long conversation on a porch (sounds amazing, right?), but I just don’t always have the time for that nonsense. I know most of you are thinking that’s it way cooler to stay less modern and savvy because it’s ironically way more cooler and way more savvy to do that, but just stop.

The creativity that stems from each unique platform is ridiculous. Try to tell me I’m not a professional photographer on Instagram, I dare you. Because social media is our canvas to paint whatever message we want to, whether it’s an old nostalgic family photo on Throwback Thursday, a “retweet” of C.S. Lewis’ incredible thought process or the infamous political banter streaming through minifeeds. It’s becoming this art of “releasing” for many. For example, a wise FB post once read, “B*TCHEZ TRY TA TALK SH*T BOUT WAT DEY HEAR BT IT AINT ALL DA D*MN TRUTH B4 U TRY TA TALK SH*T GET DA REAL REAL FACTS.” And nothing gets more raw than that.

I was reading a blog a few days ago that had noted, “It’s not who you know, it’s who you don’t know,” and that really stuck with me. The idea of having millions of new personalities, questions and opinions on anything you could imagine forces you to explore all corners of this world. It pushes you outside of your boundaries and opens up doors to ideas you may not have ever considered offline. Social Media creates this clay of a personality for users to mold themselves into any shape. They read, they learn, and they take the seed of creativity, wit and knowledge social media has planted, continually watering the parts that matter most to them. You just can’t find that type of resource anywhere else.

So, please, before you decide on disengaging from this unique world of communication, consider this incredibly informative digital world you’re actually shutting out. It’s here, it’s free and it’s begging you to take advantage of it.