Do you remember what it was like before social media and smart phones? I briefly do. I got my first cellphone when I was in sixth grade. It was a LG Cosmos and it had a sliding keyboard and I thought I was pretty cool walking around with that. 

Then iPod Touches were invented and I finally got one of those. From there I discovered Instagram, the photo sharing app, and became obsessed. That was my first taste of social media. I wasn’t allowed to have a Facebook account when I was younger and made my first one my freshman year of college. Before I made one, I lived vicariously through my kind friends who let me log into their Facebook pages so I could keep up with everything that was going on. 

I think one of the worst things social media has done is make people think they need to always know what is going on. I remember when I was younger I would wake up and immediately get on Instagram and scroll and scroll and scroll until I saw everything I missed. I don’t know why I wanted to know what everyone was doing so badly. Before I was blissfully unaware and I was fine. We don’t need to know everything that is going on. 

Now, it’s even worse. If you didn’t post about it, it didn’t happen. If you don’t post a picture with someone, you aren’t really friends. It is kind of ridiculous when you really start to think about the collective brain-rot we all have from social media. I hate to sound like an ancient person complaining about the internet, but I think things were better before everyone knew what everyone was doing all the time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate certain aspects of social media. I enjoy seeing what some of my friends are up to and connecting with relatives I don’t get to see often. I use Facebook a lot more than I like to admit for my job. Whether it be looking up an event or messaging someone for information, Facebook helps me a lot. I just wish we all didn’t have such a dependence on it. 

Lately, I have tried to post about my life less. If I take a trip to the Little Debbie Park and don’t post a picture of it, I still went. I still had a good time even if no one knows I went. I also don’t have to post about it immediately when I go. If I go on a Friday morning, I don’t need to inform everyone I went that evening. First of all, no one cares and secondly it is not anyone’s business. 

Taking a step back from posting most aspects of my life has made me realize how silly some of the routines I fell into were. I used to take pictures just for the purpose of posting them and getting people to like them. Now I take pictures for me. I take pictures for me to look back on and remember that I had a good time. I promise, relationships and trips can still be meaningful offline. 

Standard reporter Bethany Porter can be reached at (931) 473-2191.