My life isn't interesting enough for social media

Have you ever noticed that when you scroll down your Facebook News Feed post after post is about accepting a job offer, how wonderful a boyfriend or girlfriend is or showing off a new outfit in an edited photo? What about how Twitter has seemed to become a complaint outlet? Have you ever compared the number of likes on your Instagram photo to those of a friend, who seems to have the perfect lighting, background and smile in each and every post? We've all done it. We've sugarcoated our lives and our experiences so that we seem interesting to our "friends". You post a photo of a beautiful mountain top view with a bible verse or #blessing and say what a beautiful day it was when, in actuality, you sweated your butt off, skinned your knee and didn't even want to go on the hike in the first place. You get notification after notification of people liking your photo and you feel like you accomplished something that day. Sound at all familiar?

Have you ever sat down with a friend to catch up, but they interrupt you moments after you begin talking with "Oh, I think I saw that on Facebook!"After that comment, you're at a lose for words. They already know, because you share your experiences on social media. Here's my question: What's the point of face-to-face communication or having relationships if we have no personal life anymore? My generation, those younger than me and even some older folks have lost the idea of personal information. Everything is a post or tagline or hashtag now.

Are you thinking, "Oh, the PR major is telling me that I shouldn't post everything on social media? Hello, she just posted a day-by-day summary of her Italy trip, but I shouldn't post what I had for dinner? Yeah, ok." Was I close? Yes, I like to post on social media. I've grown up in it, it will most likely be a large part of my job, and I love to take and share photographs on social media. Here's the thing though, I'm not all that interesting. Today, I sat and watched five or six episodes of Scandal, ate way too much junk food and surfed the net. Fascinating stuff, right? The old me probably would have posted about how addicting the show is or some Olivia Pope quote. I know that I have a lot of Scandal loving friends, so I'm confident that it would have gotten a decent amount of likes and a handful of comments. I would log onto Facebook and see a little red notification flag in the corner. I'd be lying if I said that seeing that red flag wasn't a confidence booster. It is. It makes me (and I'm sure you as well) feel like people care about me and I you have to say. Instead of posting anything though, the new me was content to have my television marathon Monday and go to the gym. I was good. There was no reason to post.

While I was in Italy, I had a break from the constant buzzing and beeping of my phone. Although I posted a daily synopsis of what we had done (mainly so that I could remember and my parents could know that all was well), I loved that Italians aren't glued to their phones. They don't walk and text, walk and talk, talk and text, listen and text or any other type of phone multitasking. It was refreshing. They had something to talk about--and Italians love to talk and visit. For me, that is what is important in life: relationships and communication. I want to actually have a story to tell my friends when I see them, a story that they have not already heard about via social media. I want to sit down with my friends and be present, which means my phone remains in my purse and not on the table. I want the person I'm speaking with to look me in the eye so that I know they're listening; I don't have to take their word for it because their looking at their phone while I'm talking. I'm guilty of all of these things, but I'm done. I'm done with sugarcoating my life just to see a red notification flag when I log into Facebook. I'm done multitasking with my phone. I'm done telling my friends "happy birthday" on Facebook--if they are truly my friend, they deserve a phone call on their birthday. I want to restore the meaning of personal communication... so don't be surprised if I call you, or give me a call; we can catch up!

Social Media: A Game Changer

When my grandmother passed away last month, my world changed. I went from rushing through life, to enjoying and savoring each moment. I went from praying when I needed something to constantly talking with God. I went from speaking without thinking to holding my tongue when I didn't have anything nice to say. It was easy to make these big life changes when I was at home. Temptation, jealously, stress drifted away as soon as I walked into my house. Yet, at school, these daily struggles seem to hang on my actions and thoughts as though they were a ball and chain around my ankles. They are constantly weighing on me, making it more challenging to hold my tongue and appreciate the moment.

Over the past several years, I've become a social media addict. Everything I do or think is posted on social media--yes, I am currently posting on a social media site, but bear with me. I posted photos, photoshopped many times, and statuses promoting or bragging about something. While I was posting these things, I thought that I was "connecting" with people, letting them see what was going on in my life. However, what I didn't realize is that, I was giving acquaintances and even dear friends and family too much information. I found that I had nothing to talk to my extended family members about because they saw everything I was doing via social media. I was at a lose too because I could see what was going on in their lives because of social media. For a person who values face-to-face communication (and loves to talk, for that matter), I was lost.

I decided to take a break. I haven't given it up 100%, but I'm more selective about what I am posting and revealing online. I went to a gymnastics meet last night, but only my roommates whom I went with and the few friends that I saw there, know. Normally, I would have tweeted about it or insisted on getting a few pictures with my roommates to post on Facebook. It seems like a minute thing, but it has had a profound impact on my life in just a few short weeks. I've realized that part of the reason I posted so many things on social media sites was to get more "likes" or "retweets" from others. Their acknowledgement of my posts or photos was a confidence booster. What I was doing, no matter what it was, was important or interesting or cool.

This step back from social media, has left me feeling unimportant and lonely in some ways. It sounds crazy, but to a world who is obsessed with instantaneous communication and information, it is a hard adjustment. Instead of waking up and checking Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (which is what I used to do), I grab my daily devotional and read the bible verse for the day. It's not easy; I have to consciously choose to not look at social media as much, but I kind of like the feeling of people not knowing what I am doing every moment of every day. There's finally truth to my "let's hang out and catch up" comments. It's a refreshingly basic change to my life, yet I have had more important self-discovery moments in the last few weeks than I had had in a long time. It's a challenge, a personal one, but I am loving every moment of it! So, if I don't respond to a text or post on social media, I'm sorry. I can honestly say it's not you, it's me.