Over this past week, I have gone through many stages in my social media use.

Some

days I would not go on social media at all, and then some days I could not get off my phone. I

was overwhelmed with things to do, but yet I felt completely disconnected if I wasn’t on my

phone, and completely behind if I was. I struggled this week especially with a work-life-school

balance, and life has been sent to the back burner for most days. On the days that I consciously

decide to focus on a social life, and go on social media and connect with people that way,

school tends to be a secondary responsibility, as I tend to struggle to do both at the same time,

or managing my time to create a balance. I work three jobs outside of my education, 2/3 being

dependent on me being able to quickly answer emails and respond to my supervisors about

students that I teach. This causes me to have always have my phone on me, acting as an aid in

procrastination and avoidance, but if I don’t have it I’m disconnected and out of the loop, and

can let supervisors and my students down. There is no way to exist in this world without

technology. We have not only become dependent on it in a social aspect but now work revolves

around social media and using technology in a productive way. This week I submitted work for

school online, submitted outlines and examinations for one of my jobs through the application

basecamp, and a music video for another job through Vimeo. In terms of my social life, I

typically live on Instagram and Snapchat, whereas I am forced to use Facebook for school

purposes, since I have a group chat for one class, and my committee will post alerts on our

Facebook page.

As stated in the textbook, we belong to numerous social circles, and we adjust our

behaviour to appropriately interact with each group, and this does not exclude how we conduct

ourselves online. This week I existed and conducted myself appropriately within each social
realm online. I acted as a proper student when emailing professors, I acted as an appropriate

employee when I contacted my supervisors, and I acted like my true self, goofy and funny when

scrolling and commenting on Instagram pictures. Each of these ‘acts’ is something I do

unconsciously, each role I play is not something I think about doing but something I am

conditioned to, according to Mead, this ability to adjust one’s behaviour is called role-taking,

and it occurred to me this week just how much I participate in this. This expectation that I must

be available all the time comes from the social conformity that is expected of us, which is to be

on social media and to be able to answer your phone at any time. According to the textbook

nonconformity is participating in behaviours that deviate from social norms and expectations,

which in this case would be not using technology at all. But to non-conform would mean that I

would not be able to get a job, or get an education, since both of these rely on technology and

what accompanies it. I think about the amount I use technology and rely on it, and how the

days I don’t use it I feel out of touch and anxious that I am missing out on work, school, and a

social life. This week I was able to take a step back and view my social media use and see how

detrimental living without it can be. I asked myself this question this week, can anyone ever be

successful or happy without technology? And what I found out, the answer is no.