We tend to take a lot of time to post on social media

Becky Swig | Editor-in-Chief

In this day in age, teenagers tend to spend a lot of time on social media. We post so much on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Vine, Twitter, etc. Our lives are documented on all of these platforms, and we let it control what we do and how we allocate our time.

I know that I am guilty of spending a lot of time and energy on social media. I do post a decent amount- I do it to keep up with the fast paced atmosphere, to share what I am doing, to look at what other teens are doing, etc. 

The downside to being plugged in to all of these platforms is that we (at least I) sometimes let it take over. This past week while I was spending time with my extended family I kept thinking “Oh my I can Instagram this” or “That would be a great Snapchat story” or something that I could use to post on a social media site. This isn’t all bad, but I was letting the excitement of a post overcome the joy of actually participating in the activity. 

We often times stop what we are doing to engage with social media. We stop our hike to post a photo, we stop our conversation to upload a funny tweet, we stop our activities to share a Snapchat story. We don’t “live in the moment.” We “live in social media posts.” 

I am guilty of all of this. I take the time to come up with a funny (or so I hope) tweet, to edit and find the perfect filter for my Instagram, or to post a cool Snapchat story. I just want to share what I am doing with my time, or to see what others are doing. It isn’t bad to want to post. But it is not good when we let these social media sites play a huge role in our lives, when we let them consume so much time.

Although I am guilty of posting on many different social media platforms, I am trying to be aware of this. I am trying to limit my use of these sites, to limit the time I spend on my phone. Instead, I would rather talk with my friends, hang out with my family, and post later. Post once I am completely done. Post a few hours later (I know, it is unthinkable). 

Who cares if we post the second it happens or a few hours later? We have the ability to post at anytime, right as things are happening, but we should just enjoy the moment we are in. Posting something immediately or a few hours later won’t change much.

I know that I need to take a step back from posting on social media right away, and take the time to live in the moment instead of for the pictures.