Social media occupies an important place in modern life because more and more people keep using these platforms worldwide. Many people do not even understand how much time and effort they spend to stay online. That is why it is reasonable to track media usage to find whether it is a problem. That is why this paper represents an overview of how frequently I used Instagram on Sunday, March 13, and whether this network technology affected my offline presence.
- 9:00 am. It was an ordinary weekend day when I managed to get enough sleep. After waking up, I decided to check my social media accounts before leaving the bed. There was nothing interesting on Facebook and Gmail, but Janie, a friend of mine, posted three photos from a party on Instagram. I liked them and commented that her dress was perfect.
- 10:00 am. While preparing my breakfast, I kept scrolling my Instagram feed and found a funny dog video. I decided to forward the visual to Oliver because he had a similar pet. I did not greet Oliver or add any supporting text to the video. Oliver responded almost immediately because he was online and sent me some emojis. We then chatted for a while, and our messages were short and straight to the point.
- 11:00 am. It was a sunny day, and I decided to take a selfie and post it on Instagram. After that, I kept monitoring who liked my photo and responding to comments. Amelia, my close friend, even chatted with me through Instagram direct. Our messages were also short, and we arranged to meet in the evening.
- Noon. I decided to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home once again because it significantly impressed me. However, the scenery and the plot did not make me abstract myself from Instagram. I still kept scrolling the feed, monitoring the likes, and responding to comments. In addition to that, I bookmarked a few interesting videos to show them to my friends later.
- 3:00 pm. It was my dinner time, and I found a long video by an economist via the recommendations. Thus, I was doing three activities simultaneously: eating, watching the video and reading comments. The expert said that the current geopolitical situation would result in significant economic issues around the globe, and I decided to post this thought in my story.
- 4:00 pm. I opened my Instagram to see how my friends responded to the story and what they thought about the expert’s words. I chatted with a few friends about various issues for a while.
- 6:00 pm. We met with Amelia and decided to go to a local pub. We talked face-to-face for a few minutes and then opened our Instagram profiles to check them. After she responded to her friends with short messages, I showed her the videos that I had bookmarked. Amelia also displayed photos of the guy she wanted to meet, and we discussed him.
- 9:00 pm. We left the pub, waited for a taxi, and went home. When at home, I checked other social media platforms, including Facebook and Gmail, to see whether there were any urgent affairs. Since there was nothing deserving attention, I started preparing for sleep.
- 11:00 pm. I went to bed and opened Instagram for the last time a day. Amelia posted a photo from our meeting, and I liked it. Good night!
According to the information presented, it is now possible to analyze my media presence and identify a relationship between online and offline. These records demonstrate that I wake up and go to bed with a phone in my hands. This state of affairs can demonstrate that I have an addiction, and a study by Romero-Rodríguez et al. (2020) reveals that younger university students are more likely to suffer from this issue. However, I believe that I do not have an addiction because the deprival of Instagram does not make me nervous.
Furthermore, analyzing the diary demonstrates that Instagram follows all my daily activities. Irrespective of what I am doing, there is a high opportunity of checking my account in the interim. According to Hanley et al. (2019), people are typically unaware of how often they check their social media, and this information is true for me. Ding et al. (2019) also stipulate that people are more likely to act within a single network. The records help me understand that I keep scrolling my Instagram feed while watching a movie, eating, and other.
In conclusion, it is possible to mention that network technologies influence my self-presentation and offline behavior. For me, it is now challenging to engage in long face-to-face communications without Internet breaks. Since Lieberman and Schroeder (2020) highlight that social media makes it easier to form new social ties, it is now more difficult for me to talk with unfamiliar people in real life. This state of affairs is typical for many young adults, and they seem comfortable with this way of living. However, it is still better to minimize the time of using social media not to be lost online.
References
Ding, D., Bhattacharya, P., & Phan, T. Q. (2019). A tale of two networks: Characterizing the interplay between online and offline communication networks. ICIS Proceedings, 12.
Hanley, S. M., Watt, S. E., & Coventry, W. (2019). Taking a break: The effect of taking a vacation from Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being. PLoS ONE, 14(6), e0217743.
Lieberman, A., & Schroeder, J. (2020). Two social lives: How differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 16-21.
Romero-Rodríguez, J. M., Rodríguez-Jiménez, C., Ramos Navas-Parejo, M., Marín-Marín, J. A., & Gómez-García, G. (2020). Use of Instagram by pre-service teacher education: Smartphone habits and dependency factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(11), 4097.