Unplugged Facebook
August changed my life. I began my bachelor's program and it deals with 100% social media and internet.
The name of my degree is called Converged Communications. Upon telling people this degree everyone has only one universal response, "What the heck is that?!"
The response is valid, because my school actually is the first to have this degree offered. Whereas other colleges around our school offer Communication degrees, after choosing this degree one must branch under Broadcasting, Media, Marketing, Public Relations, etc, to become an expert at one specific field. Converged Communications is a new program that is designed to offer a student ALL of the above into ONE degree. It's pretty awesome.
There are four large focuses, however the main courses are required for all four.
The four focuses include Advertising & Promoting, Production Media, Strategic Corporate Communications, and Political and Cause campaigns.
So far I've been enrolled and active for only three months. One giant thing that seems to be common in all my four classes is social media. We discuss so much in depth about commercials, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, news channels, criticisms and the alike.
One afternoon something just struck in my head. What am I doing wasting my time on so many social networking sites? Don't get me wrong-social media is VERY important to my degree because after all, the point of the Converged portion is that in our time and generation almost everything is heading in the direction of being online. I know to be a successful business in today's world you better have some kind of campaign, advertisement, or activity online where the consumers are spending their time.
So, what am I talking about then? Facebook.
Facebook is used for multiple things. Obviously, majority of people like to keep in touch (and stalk) others in their lives. But what was I using it for? Why did I log on 2-4 times a day? What benefits am I getting from using Facebook? (Especially if I am not using it to promote myself or a brand).
The answer is clear and simple. I was wasting time.
Comparing other peoples' lives to my own. A large portion of Facebook is causing symptoms of depression in younger people, because people over estimate (and show) how happy someone is. You see photo's and trips and outings and suddenly some people question themselves or feel left out. (Higher rate of suicide in teenagers lately due to bullying, harassing, and simply social media influences.)
Could these feelings be avoided? Sure. What you don't see or know cannot harm you. I won't so much as say I was becoming depressed from Facebook- if anything I may have been causing others to feel that way (unintentionally) by the amount of "FUN" activities I posted.
I also began to question why am I even posting? To show others what a good time I'm having? To prove I'm outgoing? It wasn't going anywhere. I really don't even know why I posted anything. Who really cares about what food I'm eating or what sale I just scored? I don't think people realize how pointless Facebook can be. Also, it was a huge distraction to me while doing schoolwork. So, for the time being (and maybe my entire degree seeking months) I may remain "unplugged" from Facebook.
People and friends who care to know about my activities can simply call me if they need to reach me. I no longer feel a sense of urgency (which I often felt) to post every single thing I do or to let every single other person know about my whereabouts.
I do still have Instagram and this is largerly because Instagram is focused on photo's moreso than having the ability to update a status. I can simply upload a photo and it will say it all. Less is more, so the point gets across with a photo of whatever I felt the need to share. I also connect largely on this network with people I do not know personally (fans from YouTube as well), and so I like to be able to keep in touch with the "world" this way.
I also still will remain on YouTube simply because when I upload videos I feel I am either helping someone with my experiences that I share, educating others about my culture, or I am entertaining people by being silly. I find YouTube to be a positve, so I will keep that network.
Twitter I still have, but I barely use.
If you can relate or disagree or have any thoughts, leave some comments below! Thanks as always for reading :)
-ssr
The name of my degree is called Converged Communications. Upon telling people this degree everyone has only one universal response, "What the heck is that?!"
The response is valid, because my school actually is the first to have this degree offered. Whereas other colleges around our school offer Communication degrees, after choosing this degree one must branch under Broadcasting, Media, Marketing, Public Relations, etc, to become an expert at one specific field. Converged Communications is a new program that is designed to offer a student ALL of the above into ONE degree. It's pretty awesome.
There are four large focuses, however the main courses are required for all four.
The four focuses include Advertising & Promoting, Production Media, Strategic Corporate Communications, and Political and Cause campaigns.
So far I've been enrolled and active for only three months. One giant thing that seems to be common in all my four classes is social media. We discuss so much in depth about commercials, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, news channels, criticisms and the alike.
One afternoon something just struck in my head. What am I doing wasting my time on so many social networking sites? Don't get me wrong-social media is VERY important to my degree because after all, the point of the Converged portion is that in our time and generation almost everything is heading in the direction of being online. I know to be a successful business in today's world you better have some kind of campaign, advertisement, or activity online where the consumers are spending their time.
So, what am I talking about then? Facebook.
Facebook is used for multiple things. Obviously, majority of people like to keep in touch (and stalk) others in their lives. But what was I using it for? Why did I log on 2-4 times a day? What benefits am I getting from using Facebook? (Especially if I am not using it to promote myself or a brand).
The answer is clear and simple. I was wasting time.
Comparing other peoples' lives to my own. A large portion of Facebook is causing symptoms of depression in younger people, because people over estimate (and show) how happy someone is. You see photo's and trips and outings and suddenly some people question themselves or feel left out. (Higher rate of suicide in teenagers lately due to bullying, harassing, and simply social media influences.)
Could these feelings be avoided? Sure. What you don't see or know cannot harm you. I won't so much as say I was becoming depressed from Facebook- if anything I may have been causing others to feel that way (unintentionally) by the amount of "FUN" activities I posted.
I also began to question why am I even posting? To show others what a good time I'm having? To prove I'm outgoing? It wasn't going anywhere. I really don't even know why I posted anything. Who really cares about what food I'm eating or what sale I just scored? I don't think people realize how pointless Facebook can be. Also, it was a huge distraction to me while doing schoolwork. So, for the time being (and maybe my entire degree seeking months) I may remain "unplugged" from Facebook.
People and friends who care to know about my activities can simply call me if they need to reach me. I no longer feel a sense of urgency (which I often felt) to post every single thing I do or to let every single other person know about my whereabouts.
I do still have Instagram and this is largerly because Instagram is focused on photo's moreso than having the ability to update a status. I can simply upload a photo and it will say it all. Less is more, so the point gets across with a photo of whatever I felt the need to share. I also connect largely on this network with people I do not know personally (fans from YouTube as well), and so I like to be able to keep in touch with the "world" this way.
I also still will remain on YouTube simply because when I upload videos I feel I am either helping someone with my experiences that I share, educating others about my culture, or I am entertaining people by being silly. I find YouTube to be a positve, so I will keep that network.
Twitter I still have, but I barely use.
If you can relate or disagree or have any thoughts, leave some comments below! Thanks as always for reading :)
-ssr
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