Social Media is a Tool
If you follow me on social media or know me in person then you know that I’ve had a pretty tumultuous relationship with social media. I also tend to reject societal norms and rebel against the status quo so there’s that. haha! But recently I felt like I FIIIIIINALLY got breakthrough in regards to social media *cue the golden harps of heaven*.
I was raised in the era of limited technology. I played Oregon Trail in high school which pretty much tells you everything you need to know. If you’re not familiar with Oregon trail it’s because you were born after 1983. I’m from the generation that had the very short lived experience of the pager. I didn’t have a cell phone until I was 17 and even then cell phones were so limited in their capabilities that all you did was use them to call your mom. So, all that said, I know what it’s like to have unlimited amounts of unoccupied time. I know what it’s like to handwrite letters. I know what it’s like looking around your house for something, ANYTHING to do. I know what it’s like to learn a new skill simply because you’re bored and not because you had to put forth effort or be intentional. Intentionality was easier for me growing up. It didn’t take much to learn something. It only required me to be “present” to learn. Because I had so much life and experience without social media I feel the effect of it more heavily and more often.
Recently I was having a day of struggle with social media wondering if I’d ever be free from its pull on my heart and life, I had an epiphany. The only purpose of social media is to be a tool. It is designed solely as a tool for us to use for OUR purposes. It is not an entity of its own. It does not have the power that we think it has. It only has the power we give it. Just as with any tool, the wielder is the one in control of the item being wielded. I know, I know. This sounds so simplistic but it has truly set me free. I get to decide how, when, if, where I use the tool that is social media. And if I decide it’s not the most effective tool then I get to say no to it.
Tools, by nature, are there to make our lives easier and to help us accomplish a task, nothing more. For some, that task is art. Every painter needs specific brushes & paint to accomplish their task of creating a painting. For some, that task is marketing and what better way to market your product, event, etc. than with social media. It’s absurd to think the tool is more powerful than the handler or that it serves any other purpose than the one it’s designed to serve. Why should social media be any different? The point is that you get to define what kind of tool social media is for you and I STRONGLY suggest that you do. In my experience, undefined & unfettered use of social media leaves you feeling pretty… crappy. When you give social media boundaries of existence in your life then you are in control and can wield it to your benefit. If you don’t give social media boundaries of existence then it will infiltrate & infect every part of your life. Sounds dramatic but I have experienced this firsthand.
Social media platforms were designed to keep your attention for long periods of time and to keep you coming back. In a BBC.com article entitled, “Social Media Apps are Deliberately Addictive to Users,” a former Facebook employee says, “You have a business model designed to engage you and get you to basically suck as much time out of your life as possible and then selling that attention to advertisers.” It’s a machine. It’s a business, nothing more. Meanwhile, we are giving unlimited amounts of our time, emotions, mental space (the list goes on) to this machine. It’s time that we put social media in its rightful place. It’s time for us to set the boundaries of its influence in our lives and the lives of our children. It doesn’t deserve our precious moments, our health, our time, etc. Social media is simply a tool that we control to accomplish a task, nothing more, nothing less. Find out what that task is for yourself and let social media serve you not the other way around.
