Losing the “Dumb” phone for a Smartphone

The Switch

I’ve finally done it. I’ve traded in my Samsung Reality for a Droid RAZR, and oh, what a change. I thought, “I’m pretty savvy, how hard can the change be?”

Apparently, meltdown hard. I couldn’t find my pictures, I didn’t know how to change my ringtone or access any of the information on my SD card.

Eating at Olive Garden after picking out my phone, the waitress giggled while I struggled with my phone. Apparently the fact that a millennial doesn’t know how to get her pictures is hysterical (I have to admit that if I was her, I would be laughing, too).

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Social gaming succeeds through virtual goods

My sad little farm :( But me with cute pigtails!

Why did I play?

Per force of an assignment, I had to give in to something most people enjoy doing on a daily basis – playing a game on Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I do indulge in a game or two of Bejeweled Blitz, but spend money on it? That's definitely not on my top 10 list of purchases.

However, I bit the bullet and I did it. But not on Bejeweled Blitz, I decided to go to the second most popular game on Facebook – Farmville.

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Politicians on Twitter

I’m being shown up

When I first got Twitter, I had no idea how to use it. I went on it for a few days, got frustrated and ran away from it like a little girl does when she sees a spider. I. Was. Scared.

However, then came along a class where using Twitter was mandatory. So, forced by syllabus, I had to figure it out. And now that I kind of know what I’m doing, I’m seeing 50-plus-year-old politicians showing me up. When did they learn how to use it before me?

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"Mom, I don't want to be your friend!" Parents struggle with social media monitoring

The Shrouding of Social Media

During my senior year of high school, I finally broke my social media cherry. Some friends of mine created a Facebook account for me, took off the training wheels and let me wobble and ride down Social Media Lane.

At first, of course, I was confused. What seemed to come so naturally to my peers was like a minefield to me. However, one thing was clear – I did not want to be Facebook friends with my family. My mom had yet to create a Facebook profile, so I wasn’t worried about her, but my family was another story. For some reason, I felt my Facebook profile was to be kept for only my friends and me. Even though I had no idea how to use it, Facebook was sacred.

It felt instinctive to want to seclude that part of my life from my family. But why?

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Facebook Famine: Why were you so hard to give up?

Day 1: What did I do?
The words “I got this!” came to mind as I had my last look at Facebook and logged off. I thought two days without Facebook wouldn’t be hard at all. I’ve willingly gone many more days without it when I was in a time crunch, so I thought, “What could be different?” However, just coming off of a one-month break that included multiple daily visits to Facebook, it wasn’t so easy. I was shocked by how many times I reached for my phone to go on Facebook. While waiting for a friend to come to lunch – reach. Waiting for a class to start – reach.

But it didn’t stop there. It turns out I have a nasty little habit of opening a new tab for Facebook after I check my email. Who knew I went on it so much?

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