I detest the idea of Social Media Day. To me, it seems like a couple of Facebook friends got together and said, "Hey! We don't pat our own backs enough online, so let's make a fake holiday to celebrate how much time we waste online!"
Social Media Day reminds me of the old Earth Day slogan, "Make Earth day every day!". If you use social media in any sense, you probably use it at least once day. If you do that, then every day is Social Media Day in some sense. And if Social Media Day is everyday, do we really need to pick a day to celebrate? Is there any point beyond self-satisfaction?
So, I'm going to propose another holiday for us to celebrate. A day where we avoid social media. A day where we take the time to actually connect with people in meaningful, physical ways. I call this day Anti-Social Media Day.
Anti-Social Media day is the day where you put down your smartphone and close your laptop. You take the time to make real, physical things. You communicate in ways that mean more than a blast of text. It's like living in 1986, but without the bad hair.
Here are things you can do to celebrate Anti-Social Media day:
- Call someone on the phone. Actually hear their voice. Converse about meaningful things. Maybe you can go crazy and start a FaceTime chat, or maybe you could Skype someone. Either way, stop hiding behind your text and use your voice to communicate with someone.
- Spend time with your friends. Sure, you can go to a meet up where everyone is glued to his or her phone and Twitter, but where's the fun in that? Stop hiding behind your smartphone and go see people you like. Play a video game, play a sport, or go for a walk. Do something besides sitting behind your computer all day.
- Write something for just one person, with a pen and paper. It doesn't matter if you write for yourself or for a friend. Write something down. Write postcards and letters. Write in a journal. Just write something physical for someone to read later. Writing creates real things people can keep and treasure, not just tweets and texts that are cleared out once a month or forgotten into the oblivion of the internet.
Every day can be Anti-Social Media Day if you want it to be. It doesn't just have to be June 30. Make every day count for something other than a fleeting tweets and Facebook updates.