October 16, 2015
Cya Johnson was born in Birmingham, AL where she graduated from Minor High School as the class
Valedictorian. At Vanderbilt, Cya is majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Sociology. During her tenure as
a freshman, Cya was a member of the cheerleading squad were she had the opportunity to cheer on
Vanderbilt athletics. She was also active in the Vanderbilt NAACP and Hidden Dores. Cya is currently
serving on the NSBE Executive board as the program's chair and NAACP social justice committee. After
graduation, Cya plans to attend medical school and pursue a career in medical research.
Social Wellness is a balancing Act
Being a college student has its ups and its downs. We’ve all had that last minute cram session for a test
because we sporadically chose to hang out with our friends rather than immerse ourselves in our studies.
Sometimes it becomes hard to balance our social and academic lives. The both seem to collide head on
in a way that either results in more fun and average grades or vice versa. Many college students struggle
to achieve a sense of harmony between the two.
Questions such as: “How do I strike a balance between my social and academic spheres of life that both
maximizes my time with others and my time with academic material? How can I continue building
personal relationships with my friends and family while still managing to dedicate time to my studies?”
These are questions that many students face when evaluating their social and academic standings. I
hope to address how to tackle these concerns by providing some tips on prioritizing tasks, time
management, and organization.
Limit social media time during studies and social interactions.
Technology can be both a hindrance and a benefit to our social and academic lives. Most of us are in
possession of or have access to a phone, computer, and/or television. These technologies now serve as
the dominant venue through which we connect with other people globally and gain knowledge. They open
the doors to a web of information that was once unavailable to us or difficult to access. Social media sites
such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter bridge the gap that once limited global communication. News
outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and ABC connect us to social, historical, and political events that span the
globe. These are just a few of the many ways in which technology has become integrated into our
academic studies and social relationships.
Though technology links us to new content and people, it often prevents us from actively engaging in our
studies and social interactions. Phones have become a dominant form of communication among
individuals. Texting and social media web browsing have become such an expanding phenomenon that
phone companies are making strides to offer larger data and text messaging plans in exchange for the
reduction of talking minutes. They connect us to a virtual world that drives us to replace personal face-toface interactions with virtual communication. As the popularity of these communication tools grows, it
often comes at the cost of social relationships and academic success.
I’m sure that many of us have found ourselves in a situation where we pay more attention to our phone
screen rather than at another individual’s face or academic materials during personal interactions and
study time. I’ve done this a countless number of times when I go out on dates with my boyfriend. We’d
both pick up our phones during conversations to look at the latest tweet or text message from our friends.
We, like many others, have developed a sense of dependence on technology’s ability to deliver
information in a quick, efficient, and easy manner that requires little effort. Because of this, we often
neglected each other during social interactions. After noticing how much time we spent on our phones
rather than talking to each other, my boyfriend and I decided on a plan of action to combat these issues.
A simple solution to this problem would be to eliminate phone usage altogether, right?Wrong.
Though phones impede social interaction, they are still integral to the 21st century’s means of
communicating with others, especially in the case of an emergency. Rather than stop using them
altogether during our time together, I suggested to my boyfriend that we discipline ourselves to limit the
time that we spend on our phones.
If I found my boyfriend glancing at or picking up his phone frequently during conversations, I would
politely ask him to turn it on vibrate and place it in a location that may take some effort to access. By
doing this, we were better able to actively engage in conversations with one another. I also applied this to
my academic studies in order to increase the amount of time that I spent reviewing material rather than
looking at my phone.
Organize time to dedicate to social relationships and studies.
Our lives can get pretty hectic at times. College students especially find themselves in a position were it
may become hard keep up with daily tasks and activities. We are often forced to choose between hanging
out with friends and studying for tests. No matter what we choose to focus our time and energy on,
something or someone seems to be neglected in the process. As a result, the academic pressure to
maintain good grades, and the social pressure to interact with friends both seem to cause a strain on our
overall health and wellness.
In order to strike a balance between the two, we must explicitly organize time to dedicate to our social
relationships and studies. Planners and agendas are some of the best tools that I use when organizing
my day to day schedule. Many of them contain a weekly and monthly note section that allow for short and
long term planning of activities. These features allow me to gain a bigger picture of the many tasks that I
may have scheduled.
In addition, the act of writing out my schedule on paper provides me with a concrete lists of things to do.
When I’m able to write tasks on a tangible piece of paper, I’m often better able to quantify the amount of
time that I need to dedicate to each task. After I put my tasks down on paper, I usually schedule a specific
time frame that I want to have it done. This gives me a better sense of how much time I have in between
my studies to relax and spend time with friends. I usually prioritize academics by scheduling them first,
and then fill in social events afterwards. Whenever I complete a task, I usually cross it off, indicating that I
have accomplished it.
Without organization, life can get very messy. There have been many times in which I have fallen off
schedule and had to think of a new game plan in order to get back on track. When I did fall off schedule, I
simply shifted the time that I spent on certain tasks to take priority over others. After I completed the tasks
that required immediate attention, I returned back to my normal scheduling. Organizing my time in this
way has always been very beneficial to me. Oftentimes, it has been a key determinant in how well I’ve
been able to balance my academic and social life.
Live in the moment.
One of the biggest mistakes that I often make when out with friends or vacationing with family is spending
too much time on social media and text messaging rather than focusing on social interactions and face to
face conversations. I often neglect the people who sit less than five feet away from me in exchange for
the virtual world. My mom had always complained to me about my constant phone use but I never took
her comments seriously until I reached college. I began to see how phone usage affected my
relationships with others because they were no longer restricted during class hours.
It became clear the technology, primarily phones, had almost entirely taken over social interactions.
Rather than conform to this new growing norm, I decided to challenge it by limiting my phone usage and
living in the moment. When I say “live in the moment”, I mean to actively engage in the social setting that
you may encounter. This means that you will be better able to listen to and interpret what people say
when you give them your undivided attention. When you’re with your friends try not to think about school
work and vice versa. This will allow you to limit distractions that inhibit fully experiencing fun activities or
accomplishing tasks.
Living in the moment is about focusing all of your energy into one activity or set of activities at a time.
When I began embracing this concept, it was very difficult for me because I have been so dependent on
my phone for entertainment purposes. I found myself wanting to glance at my phone (I often did), but over
time I glanced at my phone less and less. Adopting the same concept could be a liberating feeling. I felt
liberated from the chains of my phone when I could resist the urge to look at it. I began actively
participating in my experiences rather than passively allowing them to pass me by.