FirstGen Mentor

by Taylor Gardner, 18 years old, Seattle, Washington

Social media is killing us and we don’t even know it. I’ve been sitting here scrolling for hours thinking about the lifestyles I should pursue or changes in my appearance or how my platform looks and how many followers I have.

I should be asleep. I should be working in school, but I’m scrolling away, mindlessly.

My generation is sickeningly addicted, and I’m guilty. We are sick with the fatal virus of social media. It’s killing us from the inside out and we don’t even recognize it until we take our last breath. This is how we communicate, this is how we entertain ourselves, but whatever happened to going outside and putting our phones down? Instagram was down for the whole day a while back and a huge earthquake erupted. People were shaking from within and experiencing withdrawals because they couldn’t resist scrolling into their addiction.

Like a drug. There was nothing left to do.

Another app is snapchat for instance. Taking picture after picture, this is how we communicate now. Through an app. A useless, programmed, media, used to control us and that’s exactly what it’s doing. Whatever we do, it sees, it knows, it even listens.

Scary right? Am I the only one seeing this? Am I the only young woman pulled out of the stimulation of social media’s power grasp?

I know! I’m a part of the issue, but I’m aware. So why don’t I just delete the apps? Why can’t I just remove myself from the problem? This won’t fix anything. It might help me, but social lives would be destroyed. Why is it this way? We rely on social media for friends.

Mentors tell us to “delete social media it’s bad for you.” How many times have you heard that? Do you believe it? It’s hard to believe that it’s actually taken a toll on you, that’s just the power of the media. It manipulates you. People that design the app know it, and they’re trying their hardest for you to not see it. Sick. These people are killing you, and they know. You know it’s bad for you. But won’t delete it. If everyone deleted all media accounts of theirs, a mass extinction of all media programs would hit our lives. What do you think would happen? Real life encounters? A new spark in face-to- face conversations?

Life behind the screen is something you’re missing, something I’m missing, something we are all missing. It’s the sad truth and this is just the start.

Taylor Gardner graduated from West Seattle High School in 2022. She is currently in cosmetology school.