Anna Wood
Media is a product of the 21st century that I have never truly grasped a unanimous understanding of. Oftentimes my generation (millennial/Gen Z) utilizes it for validation. I observed this from an hour of use on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I don’t gain a slight ego boost when I get the notification that someone liked my post. It’s flattering in an age where people scroll aimlessly through their phones, avoiding conversation, to get some sort of assurance they are paying attention to you. That being said, I noticed in my hour of media several different ways individuals utilize it. One of the most common was the candid photo with an aesthetically pleasing background. A majority of these individuals had many likes, followers, and comments feeding into the validation portion I mentioned above. Another common trend I noticed was posting about achievements or suffering; I question why you would be so transparent about their personal struggles online. I suppose this can provide a sense of empathy within the viewer. A majority of the post I saw were related to surfing, diving, and marine conservation; my feed is obviously subjective to my own interests. I enjoyed living vicariously through my old surf team in Costa Rica as I was staring at a screen in my room. It was mood enhancing until I logged out and I realized what I was viewing was not my current reality.
I’ve always been one to spend time in nature. This is evident though my opinion of social media. I prefer to be unconfined, in a place that is ever changing. I grew up in the suburbs of D.C and moved to a beach house in southern Virginia for high school. I would spend a majority my days after school surfing, swimming, and walking coastal trails. Now that I’m back in school I don’t have that outlet; it’s hard to find somewhere in Northern Virginia that is truly “outside”. I found a large man-made lake (Lake Royal) near my apartment and took some time to venture out around It. I felt at ease throughout the duration of my time there. A slight breeze and some familiar waterfowl wading in the banks of the lake drew me back to my home. I walked a trail through a densely wooded forest taking in all the sights and sounds. My mind was blank for all two miles of my stroll. I was significantly more alert and aware of my surroundings. Once I got back in my car I felt the immediate urge to go back into nature. I can firmly state that I enjoyed this significantly more than my hour of screen time.
In these two hours I tried to focus on how the different environments impact my physical and mental state. Scrolling aimlessly through my phone and replying to notifications kept me on edge anxiously awaiting a response. Being in nature took that cultivating pressure to stay attached to a screen away. It’s not groundbreaking, at least to me, that stepping away from media put my mind at ease. This reminded me how important it is to dedicate time each week to nature. I took a distinct mental note of something I noticed in both environments: The media contained a lot about nature, being outside, the importance of conserving the environment. However, when out in nature you can see the hypocrisy that lies within this; litter, water pollution, invasive species. I observed all of this during my hour in nature and it made me ponder the integrity of individuals on social media. I encourage you to take a step away from what you preach online and apply it in your life off screen. Not only would you greatly benefit from these actions but the health of the environment would too.