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Social Media Detox

 

QOOG®

Wherein | realize that | am an
antisocial, disorganized mess

By Sophie Isbister,
Staff Writer

ig news! Last Thursday,

Facebook hit one-
billion users, a cohort that I
continue to not be a part of.
In my second installment
of my social media detox
column, I touched on what
I don’t miss about my
Facebook addiction, but this
week I turn my attention to
the downsides of being out
of touch with a seventh of
the global population.

In my first week off
Facebook I was at peace,
purging my brain of the
clutter of Likes and Shares.
In my second week off, I
felt free of the tethers of
my smartphone, having
banished the compulsion to
check my apps for breaking
friend-news every five
minutes. But in my third

week, loneliness has set in.
My world feels pretty small
now, probably because
much of it was operating
on the behemoth social
aggregator called Facebook.
Organizationally
speaking, my experiment

6G

has taught me that I really
don’t have anyone’s phone
number anymore. When I
was 11-years-old, I had a
hardcover address book.

It was pink and had cats
and roses on the cover, and
inside it contained ways

to contact all of my closest
friends. I remember passing
it around in school to make
sure I had everyone’s

number and address.
These days it seems
like that information is
more disposable, more
transient. Have you ever
texted a friend just to
receive a text back that
says “Sorry, who’s this? I
lost my phone and all my
contacts?” Was that friend
me? I bet it was, because
I’ve lost my phone (and all
my contacts) innumerable
times since those days of
the cat-covered address
book. Last week I wanted
to contact an acquaintance
who had mentioned on
Facebook that she could cut
my hair for super cheap in

her bathroom (yeah, I’m

a student). Without her
number or any way to get
it, I felt disconnected (Rosie,
if you’re reading—get in
touch with me!). Maybe
this is just a personal
problem. Maybe nobody
else treats their friendships
like a forgettable jumble of
knick-knacks in the bottom
drawer of an underused
credenza. But I don’t think

Weekend at Cultus Lake camp

The fourth annual
Student Leadership
Retreat

By Naomi Ambrose,
Contributor

emember Weekend at

Bernie’s, the movie
where two friends had
an awesome weekend at
Bernie’s? Well I just had
an awesome weekend too,
though not at Bernie’s, and
not with only two friends.
Mine was at the Student
Leadership Retreat, and
it was with 50 Douglas
College student leaders
and staff from the Office
for New Students and the
Centre for Campus Life.

Imagine walking into
the woods with a huge
shimmering lake to your
left. That was one of my

10

many new experiences
during the retreat. With
this as our backdrop, Kyle
Baillie, manager of the
Centre for Campus Life,
took us on a mini-trek into
the forest to learn about
survival skills. He taught us
how to use found materials
to provide ourselves and
others with food, water,
shelter, and warmth. He

lurking around somewhere.
But the survival skills
exercise was a brilliant way
to demonstrate the true
nature of leadership and
teamwork. I realized that

if I want to be a dynamic
leader, I sometimes need

to experience unfamiliar
situations to challenge my
strength of character, my
ability to think critically,

I’m alone here.

I also miss the ease with
which I used to socialize.
“Anyone want to get coffee
near campus today?” was
a common status I’d post.
Oh, and I’d crowdsource
with the best of them: “Can
anyone recommend a good
book/album/TV show?”

I would use Facebook to
solicit opinions about the
mundane (sandwiches) and
the momentous (careers).
Above all, I loved the
Events app. I used it to
organize my life; to get
invited to birthday parties
and then to remember to
go to them. If I had a free

Maybe nobody else treats their friendships like a
forgettable jumble of knick-knacks in the bottom drawer of
an underused credenza. But | dont think Imalone here.

Saturday night, I would
scroll through and maybe
find something worth
leaving my fortress of
solitude for. Now I rely
on physical networking.
And a big part of that is a
Pokémon-esque quest to
catch ‘em all (“all” referring
to the digits of my nearest
and dearest).

But perhaps the biggest
thing I miss is the news and

in a positive and trusting
environment by answering
a series of questions. At
first, I said to myself,

“Hm. Dishing out my life
story, hopes, and dreams
to another student that I
don’t know all that well? I
don’t think so.” But I kept
an open mind and while
we spoke, I realized we had
a lot in common. I learned

! wouldnt have had all these experiences and made these
discoveries if | only came to Douglas to get my credentials
and then leave.

then divided us up into
smaller groups and gave us
a limited time to do these
four tasks.

At first, I felt nervous.
I’d never done anything
like that, and I wondered
whether I'd be bitten by
spiders or if Bigfoot was

and my team building
skills.

We also participated in
an exercise called Personal
Sharing Cards. We were
randomly paired with
another student and the
goal was for us to engage in
meaningful conversations

that it is always good to be
unbiased and to try to build
meaningful relationships
with people you meet.
There was also a
particular segment during
the activity that improved
my listening skills by
paraphrasing what my

pop culture that would pop
up on my feed throughout
the day. Facebook is where
I learned about the deaths
of Whitney Houston,
Amy Winehouse, and
Andy Griffith. It’s where
I followed breaking news
about elections and natural
disasters, all accompanied
by the sassy commentary
of my clever friends. Social
media aggregates the
happenings of the world
in ways that are relevant
to me. I’m not going to say
it does a good or bad job,
or that this form of social
filtering is a positive or a
negative. I can only speak to
my own experience, which
is currently one of feeling
completely out of the loop.
Next week’s issue
will feature my fifth and
final installment of this
experiment. When I return
to social media, armed
with new thoughts and
a refreshed outlook on
the role it plays in my
life, hopefully I can apply
the same moderation to
Facebook that I apply to
other areas of my life, like
house cleaning.

partner said to me. This was
my highlight of the activity.
When it was time for my
partner to paraphrase what
I told her, I discovered

that I really love creative
writing and I had a passion
for helping students speak
and present themselves
with confidence and
professionalism.

I wouldn’t have had all
these experiences and made
these discoveries if I only
came to Douglas to get my
credentials and then leave.
The retreat gave me an
opportunity to learn outside
of the classroom, make
meaningful connections
with other students, and
discover new ways of
making a difference. I look
forward to next year’s
Student Leadership Retreat
and I hope you do too.