Social media is the biggest time waster of our generation. According to the CDC, college students spend over six hours on their phones a day and half of that time is on social media.
We spend upwards of three hours daily on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other sites. That is three hours of the day that we spend doing nothing of importance.
Instead of using social media as meaningless entertainment, we need to take advantage of its original function, networking.
Before the Charli D’Amelio’s, Jake Paul’s and other influencers of the world, social media was a place to showcase your life and your work.
Building up a personal brand or conducting research on socials is a much better use of time than mindlessly scrolling through applications.
You can promote clothing designs, articles and photos on Instagram and Facebook. You can voice opinions and spread messages through Twitter. You can talk about your experiences and skills on a LinkedIn profile. The opportunities are endless.
LBCC business and finance professor Nick Carbonaro weighed in on this issue. “I view social media as another communication model… it amplifies what you’re doing in real life.”
You could be the best photographer in the world 20 years ago and nobody would know. Now, you could be an average photographer with one photo that circulates the internet.
A business owner could discover you across the globe or even internationally just by searching for potential employers. No other generation has ever had this luxury. People would have to network by phone call or word of mouth.
Additionally, Instagram and Facebook serve as massive news outlets, it is information galore.
If you want to succeed in a certain field, “go out and find influencers that are in your lane,” said Carbonaro.
There are millions of people who are in fields you want to be in. What better way to learn how to make it your field than to learn from others?
The best part is that marketing yourself online does not cut into your free time. Even if you only spend three hours on socials, you could now spend one to two hours building your resume.
If you want to be on social media, use it and your time for something productive.