1) The document discusses young Malaysians who choose to limit or avoid social media use. It profiles several individuals who spend less than 3 hours a week on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 2) It explains that reducing social media use allows people to appreciate real face-to-face interactions more and feel less need for validation or attention online. They argue this gives them a better understanding of reality beyond social media. 3) While "fear of missing out" deters some from limiting social media, the document quotes a student who believes real-world issues will still be discussed elsewhere. It concludes that how people define "missing out" affects whether they feel they need to regularly engage with social media platforms.

1. Every last Friday of the month
ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER27,2015
EditorPETER YAP Tel(Editorial)03-7784 6688 Toadvertiseemailadvertise@thesundaily.com
Offthe(virtual)grid
>Considerunpluggingfromsocialmedia
ifyoufindyourselfcaughtinits
orchestratedfantasies
BY RACHEL LAW AND YEO CHIA HUI
Y
OU might have come
across the news of
Instagram celebrity and
model Essena O’Neill
calling social media quits early this
month.
Following her declaration to
ditch a system “based on social
approval, likes,
validation in
views, success
in followers”,
the 19-year-
old Australian
made
international
headlines and
sparked hot
debates like
it’s a modern
miracle.
To a certain extent, not finding
a gen-Y individual (15 to 35 years
old) on social media is as good as
finding a miracle.
A 2014 Go-Globe infographic
showed that 94% of Malaysia’s
online population is on Facebook,
and that Malaysia ranked the third
nation in Asia Pacific to spend the
most time on social media – three
hours, 24 minutes per day on
average, against the Philippines at
four hours and least active Hong
Kong at only
two hours.
Staying under-
influenced
Despite the
statistics, there
are Malaysian
youngsters who
choose to keep
a low digital
footprint.
Jenny Eng,
who limits herself to 15 minutes of
Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn
a day to keep abreast of current
affairs and to keep in touch with
family and friends abroad, voiced
her favour for O’Neill’s move.
“All these followers and
likes make a person delusional.
I don’t want to be fixated, to
have consistent urges to check
on updates. The original idea of
social media is to connect people;
professionally (LinkedIn) and
personally (Facebook). But social
INSIDE
page 22
media has become a giant business
right now,” said the 27-year-old
learning associate.
IT solutions consultant Leonard
Bong, who spends no more than
two hours a week on Facebook
for work, thus unsurprisingly
oblivious to who O’Neill is, relates
how irksome it can be to scroll
through social media timelines or
news feeds.
“I dislike reading statuses where
people just
complain or
rant. And it is
annoying to see
selfies captioned
with some
motivational
quote taken
from the
internet. It is
an interactive
channel but
there is no
need to put
everything out there for attention,”
said the 23-year-old.
Bong, who signs into Twitter for
10 minutes a day for news updates,
shared that he has friends who
are active on Facebook but have
trouble interacting in person.
“I find that so sad. I feel that the
best way to know someone is still
face-to-face communication,” he
added.
Getting a reality check
Since it looks like staying virtually
connected is
now the be all
and end all for
most people,
it begs the
question of
whether there
are any benefits
in staying
unplugged.
Leon
Anthony
Fernandez used to be the poster
boy for social media usage to the
point where he couldn’t go an hour
without glancing at his news feed.
“I became somewhat
addicted before I
discovered that social
media has become
a sort of separate
reality where
everyone could
pretend to be
anyone that they
wanted. It became
so artificial and
I was a part of
that constructed
reality,” explained
the law student.
The 23-year-
old said that the
realisation woke
him up and it was
then that he decided
to spend less time
on social media and
invest more in the
people around
him instead.
“I personally
feel that
‘unplugging’
has given
me a better
appreciation
of good old
face-to-face
conversations.
Real honest
connections
are almost
impossible
when there
is a keyboard
between you and
the other person.
Moreover, there
is more time
in the day to
be productive
when you’re
not constantly
checking your phone for likes and
comments.”
Fernandez’s sentiment is
echoed by Eng who is now
spending more quality time with
people around her.
“Also, by lessening my
digital footprint, I no longer seek
validation for everything that
I post on social media.
Before this, I was
preoccupied
about how
many likes I
can get but
this is no
longer
true,”
she
disclosed earnestly.
Not missing anything
To some, quitting social media
may sound like a grandiose idea
– a romantic notion that is not
practical because, after all, when
the rest of the universe is plugged
in, will you not feel left out?
A-levels student Ung Yu
Wen, who uses social media
sporadically, does not share this
fear of missing out (FOMO) as she
said that issues that surfaced in
the social media sphere tend to
transcend the virtual world.
“People will always talk about
those things in college, and if those
issues are deemed not worthy
enough to be discussed then I’m
sure they are not my concern
either. However, I do have friends
who take it upon themselves
to update me about the latest
ongoings,” said the 18-year-old.
Similarly, Fernandez opined
that FOMO is subjective to how
each individual defines it.
“If by missing out, you mean
losing touch with your friends then
I don’t think so because I am still
very active in the lives of loved
ones. Besides, there are other
ways to keep in touch apart
from social media. But if you
interpret FOMO as being
kept in the dark about
the latest trends and
gossips, I think I am
better off without
them.”
Former
Instagram
celebrity and
model Essena
O’Neill had more
than 600,000 followers
on the photo-sharing
platform.
Jenny Eng
Leon
Anthony
Fernandez
After deleting 2,000 photos from her now-defunct Instagram account, O’Neill
re-captioned the remaining 96 photos to reveal the reality behind each
aspirational shot and the revenues she generated from them.
Two days after O’Neill announced her decision, the creator of Socality
Barbie, Darby Cisneros closed the doll’s Instagram account which
satirised the ideal hipster world of social media.
Leonard
Bong
Ung Yu
Wen PixtakenfromSocalityBarbie’sInstagram.
PIXTAKENFROMWWW.LETSBEGAMECHANGERS.COM