I am well aware that I was incapable of completing the challenge of going 5 days without social media. I mean there's Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and so many other social media sites that I just have to look at daily. Even YouTube is considered a social media page. So, what is the point of this article then? I'm here to explain to you exactly why most millennials can't do it.
Here are 5 reasons why millennials cannot go 5 seconds without social media:
1. We have to constantly post what we eat for every meal on Instagram in order to prove to our parents that we are still eating
Most parents think once we go off to college, our eating habits go out the window. They have convinced themselves that our laziness stops us from getting out of bed to go to the local grocery store so that we can make real food. Sure, ramen is in our diet, but some of us actually know how to make those gourmet frozen perogies and turkey burgers.
We have come to the conclusion that our parents won't believe us unless we post every meal on Instagram. Even then, they still think we are being devious and taking the pictures of our roommates food. We just can't win.
2. We feel like we can make a difference in this world by ranting on Facebook
Facebook currently has 1.17 billion active users, so us millennials want to try to take advantage of that. We may post essay long rants about political or economic issues, as well as any other hot topics that may be trending. Some will make complete sense, while others will show a clear lack of research.
Either way, we have to constantly check our Facebook to see what the hot topic of that minute is. Oh, and we also have to say happy birthday to our "best friend" that we've only met once in our life.
3. We have to be everyone's Snapchat best friend
The numbers next to the flames are empowering and when we see the timer appear, we instantly freak out. We can't let our streak with our best friend die out after 201 days; it would be heartbreaking. It would be as if our friendship had just died as well.
Snapchat has given us the motivation to use it every day and checking it constantly is out of habit. We want to feel loved and having the flames constantly next to several peoples names makes us feel that way. Then, we can't forget about our nightly routine to read both Cosmo and People magazine before bed.
4. Stalking celebrities on Twitter is a must
It isn't creepy because everyone does it. Don't you want to know what Ryan Gosling is up to every minute of every single day? Or how all of these immature twitter wars turn out between celebrities that have nothing better to do than criticize each other in order to make headlines.
Our parents should be proud of us for keeping up with pop culture in real time. We want to stay informed and Twitter also gives us the power to chime in no matter how censored some of our tweets should be.
5. We are keeping up with our LinkedIn profile so that we can find a job outside of college
Yes, that's right. This is a legitimate reason to always be on social media. Chances are that this is also the number one reason millennials are on their phones all the time. We use LinkedIn to build connections with professionals in our field so that we can have a career after college.
We are constantly reading through articles on LinkedIn that are about our chosen field, and not those People and Cosmopolitan magazines that we find on Snapchat. That's just our cover-up so that no one realizes just how motivated and career oriented we are. Millennials are coming into the workforce and we are coming in strong.
When it comes to social media, a lot of it is psychological. Yes, it's fine for us to check it out every once in a while, but not 20 million times a day. That is when it starts to become problematic. Lets face it, many of us are already at that point. Being addicted to social media is not just a millennial thing, it's an everybody thing.
So here's what you have to do.... Sign off of Facebook, Twitter and any other social media application you logged onto in order to avoid that awkward silence. Start living in the moment and not just through your social media pages. Five days without social media is not possible for a lot of us, but lets just start with 5 hours. I think we can handle that.