Dear Reader,

I was always passionate about mental health and taking care of myself. When this assignment was assigned, I immediately knew that I would write my topic about quitting social media.

I never was a social media user until my freshman year of high school. Seeing all those around me on platforms like Instagram or Snapchat made me want to join in on the action. I was tired of being the “odd one” for not having social media, so I decided to blend in with everyone else.

Quarantine came, and I became addicted to TikTok (like every other teenager). Every day was spent scrolling endlessly and every hour that went by felt like five minutes. When I met a friend, she brought up the idea of how social media is harmful to your mental health. Ever since that interaction, it changed me forever. I decided I was going to delete all my social media and start living in the real world, a world without the distractions of screen time and media.

It felt amazing. I was happier. I felt like I was living in the present moment. I wanted everyone else around me to experience this too, but unfortunately, not a lot listened. They were so used to the world of social media that living without it would just mean that they stared at the wall all day and night. Writing this Op-Ed allowed me to express all my strong opinions about deleting social media, and it felt nice to be able to get a topic I’ve been passionate about out to the world and my peers and older adults.

During the workshop, I was surprised that I didn’t receive much criticism for my writing. When I was reviewing my peers’ writings, I found myself giving a lot of critiques which made me feel a little bad. I told myself that it was a good thing and that I was only improving their writing. But it leaves me wondering, is my writing really that good or is it so that my peers don’t want to get too critical?

In the future, I want to make sure that I have a better flow in my essay. When I write, I notice that I usually just type everything that comes out of my head and so everything appears to be just all over the place. Maybe I should try handwriting? Could it be better than typing out your essay in a way that you can think about your topic clearly before putting it on paper?

This image reflects the addictive nature of social media. In a world of social media, everything may appear to be all happiness and perfection whereas entertainment is just a scroll away. To those who are already addicted to social media, what would the world be like if it just disappeared? Will they be able to ever return to the real world where information and entertainment don’t come to you as you wish?