For the first month of my senior year, I took a break from social media, cold turkey’d it. With my screen time averaging multiple hours a day, I couldn’t handle the thought of wasting precious time glued to my phone. So gone it was, all of it. For the first time in a long time, my phone abandoned its role of social crutch. While I still carried it around with me, I had nothing to do on it, nothing to distract myself with. I sat in circles with friends while the rest of them endlessly scrolled, went to classes where faces were buried in screens as we waited for the professor to start, and spent my last few minutes before bed reading instead of tapping away. Its absence was most definitely felt, and this newfound space felt good.
After a month, I felt like I had proven to myself that I was more than capable of living without it. Just when I had really settled into this new normal, I downloaded it all again. At first I kept a healthy distance, only checking Instagram and TikTok once or twice a day, but slowly it crept its way back, and I was addicted again. My fingers would keep swiping even when my brain said to stop, so when I went home for Christmas break, I jumped back yet again and took another month offline. The cycle repeats.
This back and forth between logging on and off was all in an attempt to be more present, to find the right balance between connectivity and independence, to live fully in the present moment. I firmly believe that taking time away from social media is the best thing you can do for yourself, truly. And this is coming from someone who studies and is pursuing a career in social media. Yet, the place I found the most obvious key to this complicated puzzle was the place I had been trying so desperately to avoid, right there on my TikTok for you page.
One simple TikTok changed my world view, and it can be found right here.
The TikTok reads, “One time I was talking to a friend and they told me to 'find a vacation every day, even if it’s walking outside feeling the grass between your toes,' and that’s what 2022 will be about. Finding a vacation, every day.”
While I think social media usage can be wildly problematic, I have to give credit where credit is due. Through TikTok, I have interacted with countless artists, musicians, mantras and more that have enriched my worldview, and this one right here is at the very top of the list. Find a vacation in every day. Those six words hit home for me, and from that moment on, I committed to writing down a vacation I experienced in every single day. Some of my personal favorites are as follows:
February 10: Walking down Cameron Avenue at golden hour after class, listening to Perfect Places by Lorde. Sunny and 65 degrees.
February 19: Watching a giant blue heron fly up the creek in the backyard.
February 24: Attending Liz’s weekly yoga class where she played Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse. Best class ever.
February 27: Going to Heather Havrilesky’s book signing with Dad, then driving home together and exchanging new favorite songs.
March 7: Running to dance practice at 9pm in the pouring rain with Evelyn.
March 30: Sitting outside at the picnic table after my night class, talking to Haley on the phone.
The list goes on and on. Some moments are big, but most of them are small, and it’s the small ones that I really enjoy reading over. When I say that this one TikTok changed my worldview, I really do mean it. The difference is that now, when I am walking from place to place or going about another daily routine, I remind myself that maybe this one moment is my vacation of the day. I look at the little moments differently. I take an extra second to smile at the sky, flowers and green grass, I listen to music with a greater appreciation, I take the time out of a busy day to enjoy a phone call with my best friends and family, because each of these moments is a gift. In a working world where you are only given two weeks off, and where most free moments of your week are spent scrolling, it is crucial to bring your gaze up and look for a vacation every day.
I’m still working to limit my social media time, and I probably will be facing this uphill battle for a long time, but because of social media, I found a new, rose-tinted lens, and I hope that through sharing this TikTok, I can help you all find the same.
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