Hello. My name is Elisa, and I am addicted to social media.
Good grief that was hard to say. Do you ever notice that when you get on Facebook, it says you have notifications, but then when you check them they are basically 100% made up? It literally just notified me that someone I never even talk to, posted a picture that I really don’t even care about. Haha but for a moment I felt important because I had a lot of notifications. Can you imagine the little ping of negativity I might feel if I actually got on Facebook and there were zero notifications for me? But that never happens... Wanna know why? Because Facebook knows my dirty little secret. I get on social media a million times every day for absolutely no reason. It’s just to “check” it. As if the world would blow up and I would have no idea unless I was constantly checking Twitter. Not only is this a waste of time and brain power, but it actually takes away from my quality of life. I can tell you with 100% assurance that I have never once gotten on social media and felt happier about my day or life. I always feel a sense of “blah”. Of course, I tell myself “I have to check the news because it’s my job to stay up-to-date in politics and culture matters”. But if I’m honest, I know that checking on the news once a day on a computer is more than sufficient to stay up to date. So why do I check my phone so often? Do you know what I’m talking about? Chances are if you are part of Generation Y or Z you understand this struggle. We do this because we are addicted to the dopamine rush that comes with a new notification. Or the hit to our brain that comes when we get a feeling of outrage coming from a crazy news cycle. I’m still fighting this battle against excessive media in my own life. Maybe you are too. For me, I know that the first step to figuring this out is to admit it’s an issue. What helped me to realize the severity behind my phone usage is using the app “Moment”. That’s all I’ll say for now on this. But you’ll hear more in the future. It’s impacting our country and culture more than I think we’d like to admit.