Could you survive university without social media?

University can be the most sociable time of your life. With student nights, academic events and halls parties aplenty, anyone can be a socialite.

But a packed events calendar requires management, and for most students, social media is the glue that holds packed social diaries together. Facebook will let you know if Quidditch practice is cancelled, Twitter can promote your DJ set in 140 characters, and your student union’s Instagram account will alert you when Snoop Dogg is chilling on your campus.

These tools have made the world increasingly connected, and most students wouldn’t consider shunning them at such a sociable stage of their lives. But social media is by no means a requirement at university, and many do without.

“I’m a private person and don’t feel the need to share everything with everybody I know,” says Caty Forster, 20, a student at the University of Manchester, who has never used Facebook or Twitter. Despite social media’s proclaimed benefits, Forster is largely indifferent. “Social media was just never something that particularly interested me.”

Bethany Elgood, 25, stopped using Facebook after splitting with a long-term boyfriend. During her first year at Norwich University of the Arts, she discovered his new relationship via Facebook. “I developed a bit of an anxiety towards the social media platforms that contain lots of personal details,” she says.

I quit Facebook in 2011, when I was in year 13. I left because, not only was I bored of passively scrolling through my newsfeed, I was also experiencing anxiety. To me, Facebook meant clickbait and nosing around people’s lives.

Occasionally, the latter would trigger Facebook envy – pessimism fuelled by comparing yourself to others online. I deleted my account, and for three years, I didn’t regret a thing.

People would ask: “How do you keep in touch with people?” and “Won’t you miss out on stuff?” During my first week at University of East Anglia (UEA), I was interrogated like a mobster gone rogue. I whittled down my comprehensive answers to weary grunts about the wonders of text messaging. As Elgood says: “There could be an element of networking that I may be missing out on, but how would I know?”

Ignorance is bliss. But it has also been the root of some very awkward situations. In the social media-lite days of MySpace, I was never accidentally missed off party guestlists. But thanks to Facebook invites, this is now standard procedure. I had to start asking people straight-up whether they had forgotten me.

I gained a superhuman shamelessness, and the week before a birthday, I would tell friends: “It’s my birthday next Thursday. Any token of affection would be great. A birthday hug, a card, chocolate...” A lot of people forget your birthday if you’re not on Facebook.

Regardless, I wasn’t initially tempted to re-join social media at university. I was in agreement with Forster, who says: “I never feel like I’m missing out too much. I don’t feel like I’d have anything valuable to share or gain from it.”

However, things changed during my third year. I was offered two amazing writing jobs, which both required me to get Twitter and Facebook. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I logged back on.

Adrienne Jolly, a careers advisor at UEA, says: “It’s hard to pin down reliable statistics on social media and successful recruitment. But it’s generally accepted that getting known matters, and social media networks are pretty influential in this process – for better or worse.”

You might decide quitting social media isn’t viable in the long run. Most students want a career, and social media has revolutionised the recruitment process. However, if its ugly side is bringing you down, why not consider taking leave?

By doing so, I gained resourcefulness, confidence and a strong connection with reality. My social media free rein has now ended, but I still have these qualities and I wouldn’t give them up for the world.

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