As with almost any other teenager, social media plays an integral part of my life. According to the Pew Research Center, 71% of American teens ages 13-17 use Facebook, and 52% use Instagram. I don’t consider myself obsessed with social media, but I check Facebook and Instagram a few times every day for leisure. So when I decided to quit Facebook and Instagram for a week out of curiosity, I was rather tentative to do so and didn’t know what to expect. Part of me dreaded it and felt that I made a foolish choice, while another part was excited to see how my daily activities might change.

I started my leave from social media on a Tuesday. From Tuesday until Friday afternoon, the lack of social media in my life did not make a substantial impact on my day-to-day routine. This surprised me somewhat since I frequently use social media and figured I’d be very bored without it. I went about my school day as normal and didn’t think about Facebook or Instagram. The only exception to this was during my lunch; I would instinctively open Facebook and Instagram on my phone and then realize that I was quitting social media and close the apps.

However, Friday afternoon to Sunday was a different story. I utilize the weekend to relax from the stressful school week and often check Facebook and Instagram during this time, so not having social media was somewhat difficult. Despite not using social media on the weekend, I was not severely impacted.

Is it possible to not have social media as a teenager and stay sane? Yes. However, there were many inconveniences that arose from a lack of social media – in particular, Facebook – during the week. I am a part of several clubs at Ridge that use Facebook groups as their primary means of communication.

Emily Arakawa ’16, secretary of Ridge Model UN elaborates, “With teenagers like me always on their phones and checking Facebook almost every minute, our daily lives constantly revolve around social media. As a secretary of Model UN, a club with 50+ members, I know that it is my duty to get meeting minutes and other important notifications quickly and efficiently. That’s why I use social media! If Facebook didn’t have the ‘group’ feature, I would have no idea to make sure everyone got the messages as less and less people check their emails nowadays… So I really do think social media is super important to my role as a secretary of this club, and I make sure to use it all the time!”

At times, finding the most updated information on my clubs was a challenge due to their emphasis on social media. Also, Facebook Messenger is very important way to connect with other friends since I often use it for group chats and getting in contact with people I don’t have the phone numbers of. Not having this at my disposal proved to be the most difficult part of quitting social media.

Despite some impediments, there were several benefits of quitting social media. As annoying as it is to hear middle-aged people complain that teenagers would be more social without Facebook and Instagram, this turned out to be true. In situations where I would normally be checking social media – for example, at lunch or at study hall – I talked to those around me. Furthermore, not using social media allowed me to concentrate more on my schoolwork and be the most productive person I can be.

But even so, I can’t say that I had an anti-social-media revelation. By the end of one week, I was relieved to start utilizing social media regularly again. Discussing the pros and cons of social media, Vamsi Talasila ’18 comments, “The positives of social media outweigh the negatives since it provides an avenue to express your interests and share them with other people, which is important and also provides a fun aspect to an often worrisome, tiring environment that teens are in.”

By far the biggest takeaway from this social experiment was just how prominent social media is in the lives of the teenagers. When that week finished, I realized just how different my daily routine would be if I had quit Facebook and Instagram on a long-term basis. Social media is constantly evolving, and thus will maintain its eminence not only in my life, but also for the entire teenage demographic.