Story by Kate Boles
Social media is a big part of a lot of people’s daily lives, from work, to entertainment, to just plain boredom. But some people here at West don’t participate in what most people would consider a daily, even hourly activity.
When thinking of daily life many people would include posting or checking Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., but Junior Caleb McKinney doesn’t include any of it, instead decides to spend his time on something he feels passionate about.
“I spend a lot of time on music, I play several instruments and I’d rather be doing that than sitting on social media,” said McKinney.
Now music isn’t for everyone and spending time on more important things isn’t the only reason to cut out social media all together. Some people just don’t see the point in sharing every detail of their lives.
Sophomore Jared Lutz spoke about his views on social media.
“I see social media as pointless, I don’t really see a purpose in social media. It’s better to go out and actually talk to people. You can text message or you can call a person or facetime. There’s a lot of better things than social media,” said Lutz.
Chemistry teacher Mark Lutman shares similar views on the topic.
“I’ve never used it since day one and I’ve never really had a need for it so I’ve just never gotten it, I’m pretty simple so why complicate your life with other things,” said Lutman.
However social media has it’s perks, some being the ability to communicate with people around the world, and also newsrooms like CNN and KMBC being able to get out breaking news with a simple tweet.
Although these are great things there are also some downfalls to these platforms.
“The negatives are you don’t communicate with the person; I like that communication the actual voice talking to a person. I think we’re not becoming robotic but we’re losing a sense of communication or how to speak to people I believe,” said Lutman.
Now you would think that cutting out social media would make you more productive, and although this sometimes may be the case it isn’t always that way.
Mckinney believes social media may not be the only thing you can get lost in.
“Every now and then music will be the thing that distracts me so I won’t do my homework.”
Whether your thing is social media, music, or something else it’s always good to create a happy medium. You don’t have to go cold turkey and cut out the thing you spend your time doing but it might be interesting to see what happens if you put the phone down.
You never know what could happen, a new hobby may even present itself.
