technology - Sereneluna

First, let’s start with some housekeeping. I am re-sharing my Medium article on the blog (same article but listed under a different title). If you use the following link to read this article, I will earn a small commission. It might be only a few pennies but it’s better than earning nothing at all. This article is behind a paywall on Medium but I want to make it available for everyone to read.

♡ Medium Article: Is Social Media Making You Anxious?

Social Media Anxiety

It is no surprise that technology has become predominant in everyone’s lives in the past 20-something years. People now have smartphones and smart TVs, and they don’t even bat an eyelash. Smartphones especially have been making life a whole lot easier by enabling people to stay in touch with friends, classmates, and family at any time of the day. It can be hard to not check your social media sites or text your friends constantly but we love being connected. With the click of a button, we can find pictures and videos of animals, recipes for some of our favorite foods, or any photo from friends’ latest vacation. We have everything at our fingertips and everything that we could want in the palm of our hands.

(っ◔V◔)っSerious Question: What is Social Media Anxiety?

Social media sites can make people feel anxious when they use them too much. It’s important to think about how checking the sites impacts you and try putting the phone down even if you don’t want to stop using the site for good. We can all relate to the feeling of being sucked into the vortex of social media. It’s hard not to get distracted by all the yummy recipe videos and adorable photos of our family pet, but it doesn’t come without a cost. Look at that mouth-watering slice of pie and think about how your homework isn’t going to do itself. One more scroll is time that could be spent doing something more productive.

♡ Related Article: It’s Time to Stop Procrastinating

Down the Social Media Rabbit Hole

Image Source: https://www.deviantart.com/aya-mei/art/

If it’s not the perfectionist’s rabbit hole, then it’s the social media rabbit hole. You may find it hard to get out of the Facebook and Twitter loop when you spend too much time scrolling through social media. It’s important to take time for ourselves, but these days it seems like it’s almost impossible to do so. With the world at our fingertips and the internet constantly online, it can be difficult to unplug. You are always expecting someone to contact you even if you’re not that social yourself. When your phone is constantly in reach and within sight, it’s hard to avoid distractions from all of this constant connectivity.

Social media can have a negative effect on your life if you mostly use the platform for negative engagements such as arguments or venting frustrations. This manifests as social media anxiety where you worry about updating social media and partake in this compulsive behavior because you feel obligated to check in constantly. And it’s not just the social media platforms themselves that are the cause for concern; some experts say that engaging with these platforms too much can lead to a number of mental health problems, such as depression, depression, and FOMO.

You might have social media anxiety if you answered “yes” to the following questions. Keep in mind that these behaviors could lead to symptoms of anxiety:

Questions
1. Have you ever compulsively checked your phone, laptop, or tablet?
2. Do you spend hours scrolling through social media feeds?
3. Do your friends and family think you spend too much time online?

What can you do about it?

There are a few ways to stay off your phone when you don’t want to. For instance, if you’re talking with someone in person, keep your phone in your pocket. Other tips include turning off all notifications and using an app like Freedom, which automatically blocks apps that cause addictive behaviors while blocking notifications. This is a way to control your social media scrolling by not splitting attention. Stop reminding yourself that there will be more to look at. If you’re unable to access your social media for a while, it will create anxiety in the short term and make you more productive. It’s worth standing up for your social media rights as they allow people to communicate, with friends or family. Pictures are a great way to show people where you’ve been or what’s happening in your life. You can send me photos of your pet any day!

(っ◔◡◔)っKey Takeaway: It’s important to remember that social media is supposed to be fun. If you find that it’s not fun anymore, then it might be time for a break.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥

I am mindful of the impact social media can have on mental health, so I make a conscious effort to limit my usage. The upside is that by limiting my use, I am not exposing myself to social media as much. Less time on social media means less anxiety. These days, I am mainly active on Twitter and this blog. I’m not active on Instagram (@serene_hilz), but I do check it occasionally. As for Facebook, my account has been collecting virtual dust for some time.

You can also connect with me on Twitter (@hellokitty8404) and I encourage you to subscribe to my website at http://www.sereneluna.net so that you can receive the latest updates from me.

Thanks for stopping by! ❤

My poor MacBook had an unfortunate encounter with my beloved steeped tea the other day. Steeped tea has always been my stress reliever go-to drink whenever I needed a caffeine buzz, and admittedly, it’s still my favorite caffeinated drink to this day, mainly because it’s still cheaper than anything else to be had on campus. Therefore, I learned to love this comforting drink despite the price hikes because of #Canadian-inflation. Tim Hortons, you need to redesign your lids. Seriously! They are the flimsiest lids compared to the lids from other coffee chains and they’re not very ergonomic in my humble opinion. Although I’m a devoted steeped tea lover, I learned a valuable lesson this week; that Apple products cannot handle the tiniest spill of tea or water. It doesn’t matter how fast you are to react and clean up the spill because you can kiss your Macbook goodbye. I know other people who have also experienced the unfortunate deaths of their MacBooks so I understand their losses on a personal level.

To the few kind souls who read my posts, I have not been able to write as religiously as I would like to. Now that the semester is finally over, I have no more excuses, except for the fact that I am without a laptop for a while. As I madly type away on the school’s computer, I am once again reminded of the fact that this problem could have been avoided had I not been overly-anxiously-stressed-to-the-max in study-cram mode. I don’t know whether to blame Tim Horton’s for their horrible cup design, or the fact that Apple products are unreliable. Or maybe this mess really is my fault and I’m just too damn klutzy. It’s just not the same typing on a desktop computer but I better get used to it quickly. Like any proper funeral, I went ahead and wrote a eulogy which is “a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically someone who has just died.” The reference came from Google search.

Dear CrapBook,
Even though you could barely hold a charge and I was forced to sit at the back of the lecture room in order to survive the 3 hour lectures by arriving half an hour early to guarantee my spot next to the ONLY outlet available to 110 students, even though my back killed from dragging you to class in which I had to resort to a really lame reusable grocery bag to carry you in, even though I was always the last one out of class because of the unnecessary bags that I had to drag around thanks to you, even though Nicholas stayed up all night to install Windows on you because I couldn’t operate your iOS interface, even though you crashed a couple of times and I lost all of my lecture notes and photos more than once, you were still my laptop. Even though you were a pain in the neck and I only had you since 2014, not having you at my convenience made me realize that I live in a society that takes technology for granted.

💀 RIP old friend 💀