Okay, so no Google. No Facebook. No Instagram. No Twitter. No TikTok. No form of social media for a week. That was the challenge that I graciously accepted and horribly failed. Not because I didn’t try but because it was nearly impossible to do in this day and age.
Now hear me out- I’m not a social media fanatic. I don’t have a Facebook account nor do I have a TikTok account,(heck, I don’t even understand what a TikTok is nor why it’s so popular in my cynical old age). I don’t browse Instagram every ten minutes while frantically updating and commenting. The issue was, I DO use Google for everything and anything; just like everyone else. I use Twitter, not as a commenter, but as a lurker for gaming news. But this time, I was able to give up Twitter because Google had me covered. It’s amazing how one simple website can inform me of what’s happening but locally, globally, and in a niche interest. As Nicholas Carr wrote, “Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link.” Also, the popup notifications on my phone didn’t help either; in other words: I depend on Google and I’m not afraid to admit it. Now, why is that nearly all of us, or maybe just myself, depend on Google? Again, Nicholas Carr speaks of blogger Scott Karp who states “…I’m just seeking convenience…” And it’s true; we live in an age of instant gratification and Google provides us with information hours before we even need or want it.
A week without Facebook is absolutely no issue. I’ve been without Facebook for nearly two years now and life seems better for me; well, at least my social life. I no longer feel my blood pressure rise when a friend makes a ridiculous post regarding politics- (which I shy away from both virtually and in real life because discussing politics never ends well). I don’t feel even worse about myself when I see friends jet skiing in the Caribbean or posting about their Engagement to their significant other. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that life is less stressful and enjoyable without Facebook. Instagram- while I’m not a big poster *anymore*, I do enjoy from time to time. I use it as a way of communicating with former close friends (so close that we actively go out of our way to not see each other) via direct messages. In fact, I was able to make birthday plans with a close friend from high school, whom I haven’t seen in about two years. Even though I was supposed to stay away from Instagram, I realized that I was browsing the app autonomously- not even realizing what I was doing on a Saturday night.
As you can tell from my earlier paragraph, staying away from Google was an insta-fail! There was no way that I was going to pass that challenge- in fact, I failed less than an hour after it was assigned. I tried- or I’d like to think I tried. We’ve all become dependent on products of Facebook and Google- there’s no doubt about it. And sadly, unless social media goes away completely and google gets taken down- there is no way to fight this addiction.
