Social Media: enemy or ally?

Before my Erasmus, my relationship with social media was complicated. The apps I used the most were WhatsApp and Instagram, but they were becoming my worst enemy.
Instagram was having an extremely negative impact on my life: it was disrupting my sleep, consuming my time, and affecting my self-esteem.
My homepage was full of trivial, redundant content and knowing that I was wasting hours of my life for nothing, made me feel even more frustrated. Besides, the notification overload stressed me out, as there was always a chat left behind and someone who got offended for late responses.
I was feeling like a slave of my smartphone, and I needed a proper detoxification from social media. Needless to say, I could not find any good reason to keep my accounts active.

Everything changed in October, as my Erasmus began. In Munich I reconciled with social media, and in the last 10 months, they have become my best ally.
Firstly, they have helped me to keep in contact with my friends and family.
Living miles away from the people you love makes you realise that distance can threaten even your most solid relationship. Here, I have learnt that a quick call or a nice text can really help avoiding arguments or disappointments, sometimes. It is important to let your friends (or relatives) know that you still think about them, even while living your best “Erasmus-life”. The easiest way to do so, is using social media: that is how my friends and I managed to keep each other updated about the most relevant events of our lives. Vocal messages, for instance, have been extremely useful for us, especially when it was not possible to talk on the phone because of different timetables.
Instagram also helped in this sense; it enabled my friends to watch some of the best moments of my life in real time, and thus to feel somehow part of it. I first noticed the advantage of being more active on Instagram when I came back to Italy for the semester break: my friends tended to get more excited as they heard me talking about the people they saw in my pictures. They even said that they could not wait to see more stories on my profile, which made me really happy!

Secondly, social media helped me find new friends and live wonderful experiences in Munich.
Who would have thought that I would download Facebook again? Not me.
I considered Facebook to be an outdated, useless app, but without it, I would not have found what really made my Erasmus: the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). This is a student association for international students, which advertised their events mostly on Facebook (now they have started using Instagram as well).
ESN not only made us all connect, but also live amazing moments we will remember for the rest of our lives. It is during the parties, hikings and dinners they organised that I have met my current best friends and visited the most beautiful places in Munich. Furthermore, I have been able to regularly organise gatherings and build strong relationships with the other Erasmus people by using WhatsApp group chats, that prevented us from losing sight of each other among the hundreds of people we meet every day.

So, are social media an enemy or an ally?
There is no definitive answer. In my experience, it depends on what you use them for and to what extent you let them influence your life. A smartphone certainly cannot and must not replace real human interactions. However, it can make your life easier, especially when you are living in a foreign country, far from your family and friends.
As with all things, a balance needs to be found!

Thank you for reading,

Ludo 🙂