So last week I went sailing off the South West coast of Scotland, I lived on a boat for 4 days with no wifi and no signal, how does a social media slave survive with no wifi or signal for 4 whole days??!! Was I really going to live without knowing what that person I met in a nightclub toilet and never saw again was having for tea? Or the latest Lad bible not so funny video? How could I go 4 days without the Mail Online's quality updates on Lauren Goodger stepping over a puddle?
When I got back to the real world at Glasgow station and heard the multiple dings of the digital world catching up with me, I realised how poisonous and irritating social media and the internet can be and how we all could do with a social media detox. I generally spend a lot of time on social media without really being aware, whether it's looking through Instagram to avoid talking to a neighbour at the bus stop or sending friends relevant Buzzfeed quizzes to find out which member of One Direction is their soul mate, we are all slaves to social media. I'll admit I did do the obvious and post a non filter picture of a sunset on Instagram and post a snapchat of the boat I was staying on but it was as I was watching the sunrise over Largs that I decided to switch my notifications off and keep my phone away and I learned a lot more than how to sail or tac. I was disconnected from the real world surrounded by water, dolphins and pretty views, I had time to talk to my crew mates about actual real things and genuine interests and actually listening rather than stopping them mid sentence because this 'Buzzfeed article is so us'. I felt de stressed and free exploring the Isle of Bute, playing rounders and playing board games and finally learned how to play Uno. Having an actual conversation at the dinner table without being interrupted by being tagged in the latest 'funny goat' video was refreshing. the most precious and meaningful moments aren't for social media, you don't need to make friends jealous with where you are, no one actually gets jealous and all that time you spent choosing the right filter to make you look thinner and more tanned could have been spent enjoying the moment with your friends and does anyone actually get jealous of the latest original look at this food I'm eating at this dead nice restaurant or are we all just over it and using social media to pass the time? We spend too much of our time trying to look better in front of people who couldn't care less and pretend we have this adventurous, out going life style because that's what our Insatgram pictures suggest. I'm back home and back online but am much more aware of my social media use and find myself just answering notifications or looking online when I'm genuinely not doing anything else, it's alarming it can take 4 days with no access to the online world to realise this but a world without being a social media slave is a much more refreshing world.
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