Imagine A Life Without Social Media

life without social mediaSocial media websites have become such a big part of our lives that it’s hard to think of life without them.

The first real social media network I joined was MySpace.  Remember them?  I have no idea as to what prompted me to join them.  It was such a busy and crazy site that I had no clue what to do there so I didn't really get into it much.

A few years later my sister, who was a college student at the time, told me about Facebook and urged me to join.  I didn't really see the need in joining another social media site, but I relented and joined anyway.  Because I was an early adopter and most of my friends had not yet joined, I didn't really do much with the site.  At the time, I only had a few friends on the site, namely, my sister and a few cousins, so I pretty much just set up a basic profile and really didn't hang around there much.

However, one day I received an email informing me that an old high school buddy want to be friends with me.  I was so excited that I finally had a new friend!  I logged in to accept her friend request, but the place still seemed pretty quiet, so I quickly forgot about Facebook.  Months later the same friend sent me a message stating that I really need to log on and beef up my profile because a lot of our mutual friends from high school had now joined Facebook.  From that point on, everything changed.  Facebook became a place that I visited regularly and have grown to love.

If Facebook were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, I wouldn’t be devastated. I wouldn’t miss all the app requests and the people in my stream who posts pictures of themselves all day.  What I would miss though is:

  • re-connecting with people from my past.  I was able to find a lot of my old High School, College and Law School buddies on Facebook.
  • being able to connect with close friends and family members who live far away.  My family is pretty spread out.  We’re all over the place.  While most of my family reside here in the US, There are many who do not.  Facebook allows me to see what’s going on in the lives of those friends and family members in Canada, the Caribbean, South America, Ireland and Australia.
  • The Camaraderie.  So many of the updates posted by my friends and family are just so much fun.  I would miss not being able to jump in and add to the fun.
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The next  social media network I joined was Twitter.  At the time, twitter was totally foreign to me.  The timelines just moved so quick and I didn't really get it.  It wasn’t until I started a new twitter account to go with my blog that I finally really learned what twitter was all about.  Now, I actually prefer it over Facebook.  It’s a place where I can get breaking news, personal opinions and instant answers to some of my most pressing questions.

If Twitter were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, life would carry on.  What I would miss though is:

  • the ability to easily connect with brands.  I can’t remember ever interacting with brands before joining Twitter
  • having a voice.  As an introvert, I sometimes find it hard to voice my opinion in real life conversations, but on Twitter, I find that I can either jump right into a discussion, or mull over issues and add my opinion later.
  • making new friends.  Yes, I know it’s hard to believe that people can make friends from a social media network, but it can and has happened for me.  I have personally met a few of my locally based Twitter friends in real life and have been able to make an even deeper connection with them.

Could you imagine a life without social media? What would you miss if your favorite social media networks disappeared?

Mama’s Losin’ It

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About the author

Diane

Diane is a New Jersey-based writer and blogger. She is a wife and the mom of a 13-year old boy. Through her blog, she wants to inspire moms to find Zen in their lives while offering practical tips and other valuable information to help families deal with everyday issues. Contact her at dianenassy@gmail.com

13 Comments

  • You have very clearly stated my feelings about the social media…although I never did join MySpace. Have you been inside my head? Great job on a topic I couldn’t even begin!

  • Yeah, I have connected with SO many of my old friends through Facebook. I think it’s great. I know that a lot of people knock it, but I’ve found it to be an amazing way to stay up to date.

  • You got me thinking I gotta get in on the whole twitter thing…I just need to “upgrade” my phone…I don;t even know where to start!

    Great post!

  • If social media disappeared… well, let’s just say it would not be pretty, lol! With a schedule as crazy busy as mine, most of my social life is online, and I make my living using social media marketing.

    I’d have to go get a REAL job! *gulp* :p

    • I know, right? The thought of having to go back to a “real” job is scary!

  • Myspace was the first social networking site I joined too. I can not stand myspace now. I am a facebooker!

  • Could you imagine a life without social media? What would you miss if your favorite social media networks disappeared?

    I believe social networking sites made a huge impact on our lives today. Firstly, it brings people together particularly friends in the past you have lost contact with. It’s a wonderful feeling to see what is going on in their lives due to one of the special features which facebook has. For example, one can post pictures and texts as frequent as he/she wants. This allows his all of his friends in his account to view his errands or whereabouts and can post comments.
    On the other hand, If social networking websites became obsolete,I would not only greatly missed my constant communication with my friends from all over the the world, but also to my parents and brothers who live still live in my country. One obvious reason is that the free service that social networking sites render would be gone.In addition, the sense of community would be significantly affected. It can be argued that the number of friends who you have cantact with could disappear.As a result, one would be left out with a very few closed friends.

    • Agreed. alot of relations would be affected if social media were to go away.

  • I am slightly addicted to the social media that’s out there but I tend to use it for my blog. Some days though I have to take a day off from both, all the info sometimes is overload. Myspace, lol, I don’t even remember my password to that site :/ Thanks for sharing!