I’m reluctant to admit that I have an addiction to my phone. 

However well-intended my deletion of TikTok was, Instagram reels quickly became an easy replacement. 

While social media has not stopped me from getting the grades I want, graduating from UO and being a student worker, there is something it distracts me from: my passions. 

In my free time in middle and high school, I used to paint for hours. At night, I either got on my computer and typed away at a novel that would never see the light of day, got so deeply invested in a book that I fell asleep with my light on or ended up crying about a protagonist I clearly got too attached to. 

I did these things not for anyone but myself. These passions of mine made my concept of time fade away, as I fell into a world of my own creation. 

When I got to college, I realized the passions I once dedicated myself to, I no longer had time for. Or so I thought. 

But when I look back on the hours I spent each day on my phone, whether that be five minutes every hour, or three hours straight on social media, they added up. I realized all along, I had the time. 

At this point, if you’re anything like my parents, you are probably shaking your head saying “Duh.” 

It is that damn phone. 

But let me be clear, I blame myself equally if not more than I blame my phone. 

However, when you get so caught up in academic validation, clubs, work, friendships, relationships, planning your next meal and making sure you have enough rent this week, sometimes you just want no thoughts at all…and social media becomes that escape. 

Being on our phones, whether it be a YouTube video while we eat, or scrolling while we wait between classes removes us from our lives and places us in a virtual world.

Painting, writing and reading were never hard, but it took slightly more forethought, and social media takes none. It just takes about one second to open your phone and get to the nearest mind-numbing, but entertaining, video or image. 

I asked around for what passion or hobby students wish they could do more of if they had time. Then I asked if they felt social media ever distracted them from doing so. 

Ellie Hughes, a 2024 UO graduate, said she wished she had more time for writing and “100%” believes that her phone is what distracted her from this. 

UO senior Lauren Williams wished she had time for “a creative outlet, like writing, crafting or DIY activities” but said she “1000%” thinks her phone plays a role in distracting her. 

“I’ve noticed that I look to social media for inspiration now a lot more than I did when I was younger. When I was little, I would just create whenever I wanted to. Now I feel like I need to find something that someone else has done and mimic their work. I’m seeking perfection in my passions which takes the passion part out of it and causes more frustration,” Williams said.

Williams added, “Another thing is that whenever I’m stressed out or want to relax, I no longer turn to my creative outlooks but to my phone because I don’t have to think ––  it’s a mindless form of entertainment. My phone/social media use has definitely become a crutch.” 

Our passions, hobbies and free time are often taken over by our devices.

While social media outlets can serve as a creative space, we consume more than we create. 

While technology has its perks, at the same time, social media distracts us from a multitude of things we could be doing instead, and I for one, am sick of letting Reels take precedence over my passions. 

The post Nowicki: Social media distracts us from our passions appeared first on Daily Emerald.