It’s that time of the year again. Families all across the country gather around dinner tables to feast over trays of mashed potatoes and stuffing, while yelling animatedly at football games being displayed on their televisions. Yes, it’s Thanksgiving. My last few Thanksgivings have developed something like this: as I greet my cousins I haven’t seen for months, they retreat to their phones to take pictures of the perfectly crafted pumpkin pie awaiting in the kitchen. The purpose is, of course, to post the photographs on a slew of social media accounts.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a special event reserved for your closest family members and friends. Not anymore. With the click of a few buttons, anybody can turn a private moment, like a family gathering during Thanksgiving or your best friend’s birthday party, into a public scene for all the world for all the world to see–or at least the part of the world that follows you on Snapchat.

Why is it that we enjoy publicizing private happenings on a social media, even when we know that a number of the people viewing our posts are obviously not invited? I find it interesting that teenagers feel the mundane need to let everybody know what they’re doing all the time. Since transferring to Parker freshman year, I’ve noticed that students here love to utilize Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, among other services, to show–or brag–to all their “followers” about their current whereabouts. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not innocent of this myself. I use social media. I post pictures and videos of what I do, the food I eat, and the people I’m with, like any other tech-savvy teen. Yet, I always find myself questioning why I gravitate towards my phone.

A study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s brain mapping center showed that teenagers react to social media alerts in the same way they would react to seeing a photo of a person they love or of somebody winning money. Social media is the new drug of the 21st century, and we’re all addicted. When one receives a notification, their brain releases dopamine, known as the “happy drug.” This release of chemicals in our brains pleases us, and we want to experience it again and again and again. Not only does this cycle harvest a strong dependency on technology, but it shows how teenagers love to receive often meaningless compliments from people may not even know.
The need for constant validation through “likes” makes us resort to posting everything going on in our lives. Teens spend hours editing pictures so they’re just right and creating witty captions to accompany the photo. But when something we blast to the internet doesn’t receive the attention we expected it to, we hit “delete.”
I’m not trying to villainize social media, there are countless benefits of it that can help one promote a small business, keep in touch with friends, receive instant news, et cetera. However, social media is often used in callous ways. What I mean by this is social networks are often used by Parker students to boast about their extravagances, as well as an outlet to resort to when they feel awkward.
The technological age and the developments of social media are intended to make us more connected, however they’ve done the opposite. When faced with an uncomfortable conversation, it’s really easy to swipe through Snapchat, because then it’s less weird, right? Wrong!
Every summer, when I go to my technology-free sleepaway camp, I find that my social skills improve immensely, partly because I have no device to look at when the conversation dead-ends. If Parker students spent a little less time being on and worrying about their social media presence, their social skills and productivity would probably improve, and their stress levels would likely decrease.

Here’s my advice for the upcoming holiday season: Thanksgiving is supposed to be a holiday of, literally, giving thanks. In order to do this, and do it properly, you don’t need your phone. To be perfectly honest, nobody cares about how long it took you to cook your turkey or how awesome your apple pie tastes. More importantly, you don’t need to post a picture of everything you’re thankful for to show your thanks. Instead, put your screens away, and spend quality time with the people that make you happy, because that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.