ARTWORK: Beth O’Sullivan
notification: screen time up 400% this week BY SOPHIE QUOYLE As unassuming as it sounds, Lorde’s ‘Solar Power’ prompted me to take another look at my relationship with social media. “Can you reach me? No, you can’t.” struck a chord with me for some reason. Maybe it was something about how liberated Lorde’s response sounded. Or maybe it was just the countless times I’d heard the phrase on TikTok before it clicked. Generally, I consider myself to be overwhelmingly self-aware of my actions, but why doesn’t this extend to how I consume social media? I know none of this is revolutionary. It seems most students have some bone to pick with Instagram or Facebook, or even Flora. Maybe it’s how the Facebook notifications change the longer you go without being active. Maybe it’s the way TikTok algorithms adapt to give
you more of that desired frog content. Maybe it’s the satisfaction of being included in someone’s ‘Close Friends’ Instagram story. Maybe it’s the need to show your Spotify friends just how cool your music taste is. Oh, what’s my favourite band? The Red Hot Chili Peppers, you probably haven’t heard of them. Despite this we still talk about wanting to live off-the-grid as goat farmers in Nepal or changing our names and fleeing to a foreign countryside (thank you, Mamma Mia). We have an implicit desire to cut off contact with everyone we know largely because we feel too connected. No wonder then that mental health concerns are so rife within us Gen-Zers. A lot of what we do online seems to be becoming more politicised.
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