Rachel Krunszyinsky

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   Unplugged: a forbidden word that when spoken to the average teenager, can be a death sentence-but for junior Rachel Collette, is simply a day in the life. Although living in a generation heavily dependent upon social media sites, Collette’s name doesn’t pop-up on anyone’s newsfeed. What began as a rule from her parents led her to escape, on purpose, the radar of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even the new hit Pinterest-permanently. According to Raph E. Stone of The Berkeley Daily Planet, she is one out of four teens who has yet to make her profile known to the world. The twinge of anticipation to know the latest gossip of her peers does not draw her fingers in to stroke the keyboard’s keys.
    “I don’t want to know so-and-so is sitting on the couch doing nothing today,” Collette said. “Why would I care about those kinds of things?”
    The addiction “virus” can also be avoided, Collette feels, after witnessing the obsession infect her fellow classmates. Jennifer L. Reimer of Life Mental Health has made similar observations of the increasing infatuation, stating 18% of youth ages 25 and younger have to check Facebook every few hours, claiming they can’t last longer. With Collette’s busy schedule, consisting of Girl Scouts, 4-H Westmoreland Travel All, square dancing and participating on the U19 Vipers Ice Hockey team, she has little time to squander reading countless posts from such sites. In addition, she feels it can be too easy to get caught up in the personal lives of others, documented for all to see.
    “A lot of people put things on there that they shouldn’t,” Collette said. “People waste too much time and energy causing drama on those sites, and then worrying about it later on.”
    She does, however, find herself at a disadvantage by choosing to remain offline, especially when it comes to receiving invitations. As events online officially take over old-fashioned, handwritten invites from the Dark Ages, Collette isn’t just one click away from being added to the guest list. As a result, when there’s a football game or everyone’s getting together on a Friday night, she has to send out friendly reminders to her friends that she needs to hear from them to know about it. Many times, she has to ask directly. 
    “My close friends really don’t mind it,” Collette said. “In the end, it just lands me a personal invite.”
     According to Nielsen’s State of the Media Report, between 88% and 89% of members on social media sites claim to be logged on in order to stay in touch with relatives and close friends. However, Collette feels a simple phone call is much more effective. Dialing the numbers of family from Ohio, or her Aunt from Peters Township, she is able to hear the warm, familiar voices of loved ones whom she can’t see every day.   Talking to them directly, she strongly believes, is more personal as opposed to a typed message in black and white. All in all, for 17 years she has been able to keep a social life without logging on, and doesn’t plan on signing up for any social networking sites in the future.
    “I have no desire to get one now, especially with college coming up,” Collette said. “I have better things to do than sit behind a computer all day.”