It was 2003, the year of hoop earrings, velour jumpsuits, chirp phones and if you were really lucky…Myspace. I recall walking through the halls of my high school and overhearing other girls go on about how the new boy added them on Myspace. What was Myspace? Well, it was your space. A website where you can design your personality, you can express your emotions and share your likes and interest without looking anyone in the eye. Basically, a dream come true for teenage introverts. You could pretend to be anyone you want and if people liked your pictures, that meant something. I would stay up all night designing my page with music and slideshows. Let’s not even get started on the stress from picking your top 8 on your friend's list. Then BOOM!Like a thief in the night, the social media giants Facebook, Instagram and Twitter crept in, and our feelings for myspace slowly dissipated. Now what???
To me, Facebook is the mature version of Myspace without all the shimmer and shine. A place to keep up with people’s lives after high school, or if you’re a really smart marketer it’s a platform and a network. However, the average amount of time a person spends on social media has increased dramatically. According to Social Media Today, “teenagers and young adults spend an average of 9 hours a day online”. The gag is, we’re not even socializing. As much as I love networking and watching funny videos online, I couldn’t help but wonder if the majority of our social issues stem from a lack of face to face conversations, or if we’ve been objected to over stimulation. So I decided to delete my apps and engage in the world around me.
My first 30 days were difficult, I installed and uninstalled the apps at least once a week. I had this overwhelming feeling that I was missing out on something. After deep prayer and meditation, I started to vision my life before the internet, what types of things did I enjoy doing? Fitness, writing, reading and growing plants. I immediately jumped back into those activities and even discovered a few places locally for plant swaps, book clubs, and writing groups. I began to develop my sense of self and find a place in the world with like-minded people from different backgrounds. 90 days into my detox, I couldn’t help but want to share this life changing experience with my social media community. Then it hit me like a brick, this is what share means online, to share experiences, share progress, growth, and development, I reintroduced myself as a badass, fit mom who reads, writes and grows plants. Which is a pretty big milestone from the selfie queen of 2003 whose stressed about their top 8 friends on Myspace. So is social media good or bad? Like the saying goes “even too much of a good thing can be bad for you”.
