About

I am a third-year English major with minors in creative writing and honors. I attend the University of Wyoming. This project is doubling as my English Honors thesis and my Honors Capstone project; in other words, this project is my senior thesis. I am twenty years old and addicted to social media.

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The idea for this project came from my desire for change. I had been noticing in my own life that I was spending all of my free time, and some of my non-free time, on social media. Hours would go by and before I knew it, my day had been wasted. When the time came for me to develop my idea for this project, I knew I wanted to do something that I genuinely cared about and could impact my life beyond a semester. My mentor and I had sat down to brainstorm ideas, and I knew I wanted to do some form of a creative or nontraditional project. With this in mind, tied with my current social media dilemma, the idea for a personal experiment began to take form.

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I ultimately decided to delete my social media and spend the semester incorporating new activities and hobbies into my daily life. This, combined with research surrounding excessive social media use as well as a planned final reflection paper, shaped my early project. I had originally decided to include journal entries detailing my days to bring in my love for writing, and with the intent for the journals to be their own new healthy addition to my day. These journals were only intended to last until Spring break. My first mentor suggested creating a short film to highlight my life before the project.

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After making the short film, receiving feedback from my English Honors classmates as well as my two mentors, and being a few weeks into my journals, I decided to make some changes. The idea for this website and the addition of a final short film came directly from my classmates. I passed these along to my mentors and, after some convincing, they approved the change. Gone was my traditional reflection paper. Gone was my journal end date. Hello, new project medium.

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Besides the format of my project changing, my initial focus also shifted. I had intended to focus on the downside of social media and technology use. I had assumed it was the entire presence of my phone that was preventing me from living in the moment. However, through these journals and my newfound hobbies, I learned that technology, when used in beneficial and positive ways rather than as a distraction, cannot be stereotyped as negative. Technology has proved to be a wonderful addition to my day now that I know how I want to use it. Moreover, I am seeing the positive side of social media now that I do not have access to it. More on these on the reflection page.

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As you can see, this project has grown with me throughout the semester. I created this website as a way to collect my entire project into one space. Moreover, I created this website to be a resource for anyone, no matter their age, who is interested in my project or wants to try it for themselves, minus the intense deadlines and intimidating thesis defense, of course. I want this website to be a space for people to learn about my research and experience, see my chosen hobbies and create ideas for their own, and feel encouraged and supported to take the step of making a change.

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I hope you enjoy learning about my project as much as I have enjoyed experiencing it.