Social Silence

No more unwanted TV series spoilers

More stories from Hailey Novak

Social Silence

April is generally the best month of the year for me because it’s my birthday month and therefore completely acceptable to celebrate myself for 30 days straight if I please.

Last April, though, my celebration was cut short on the 23rd day and is now unofficially recognized by me as the worst birthday month to date.

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s talk about TV series’. I know we all have our favorites and you can argue all you want that Friends, South Park or The Office are the best, but in reality Grey’s Anatomy doesn’t have any competition.

It’s hands down the greatest TV drama to hit the screens since 2005.

I don’t think I really need to give reasons why Meredith and Derek are the most adorable couple in the series, either (“Pick me, choose me, love me” pretty much says it all) but here are a few:

First off, they had a freaking post-it note wedding and still managed not to get divorced, unlike half the characters on the show who had a real wedding. Secondly, Derek accepts that Christina Yang is welcome in their bed-at any point in time- no questions. And lastly, even when they’re fighting it manages to melt your heart.

So now that we’re all aware why Grey’s is number one, let’s talk about the dreadful day of Thursday, April 23, 2015.

As college students, no matter how much we love our favorite shows, sometimes we simply can’t watch them at the normal time they air, such as 7 p.m on Thursday nights. Whether it be class, work or Spectator critique, (I’m only slightly bitter) we’re not always available to tune into our shows right at their normal time.

This leaves us using websites like Hulu to catch up on our show either the next day or at some point later. Normally, I would say there’s nothing wrong with this method-we do the best we can with what we have, after all. But last April, this method did absolutely nothing for me, all thanks to social media.

I was casually scrolling through my Twitter feed that night and I happened upon the worst news one could discover via social media.

Derek Shepherd had freaking died.

And I got to find out thanks to crying emojis and dramatic all caps declarations from random Grey’s Anatomy fan accounts on Twitter and even some of my best friends (thanks again, guys).

Talk about a traumatic experience to have while riding the city bus back to your apartment on a casual Thursday night.

So the point of all this is that, this Thursday, and for the rest of the fall and winter season, I will not have to worry one bit about the possibility of history repeating itself.

By eliminating social media this semester I am not only disengaging myself from unnecessary minute-by-minute updates of others’ lives but I’m also avoiding having my favorite show of all time spoiled prematurely.

For the rest of you social media users out there, I hope you were able to take a break from throwing up rainbows and mutilating your face into a demon on Snapchat to read this column (I’m not completely out of touch).