More than 3.5 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. On Monday, Oct. 4, those users could not access their accounts for up to five hours. These apps experienced outages that put the world in shock. College students, just like everybody else, use social media every day. Six random students shared how this outage impacted them.

Martina Braunsroth, a music education major, said she noticed the outage at about 11 a.m. She realized the app was finally working when she checked her phone at 9 p.m.

“Well, every time I would open it back up to see if it would work and it didn’t,” Braunsroth said. “I was just trying to see what was happening with my friends.”

Braunsroth personally does not feel that she is reliant on social media. She expresses that she only uses Instagram to connect with her friends.

Joshua Monson, a studio theatre art major, says he uses Snapchat more than any social media platform. However, he first noticed the crash when he opened Facebook.

“I was looking for a picture on Facebook and it didn’t work,” Monson said. “So that was bothering me, but I didn’t really think anything of it.”

He then talked about what his reaction would be if Snapchat crashed, rather than Instagram or Facebook.

“If Snapchat was down for seven hours, I would probably get pretty flustered about that,” Monson said. “That’s like my main way of contacting people. And I don’t have a lot of people’s phone numbers in my phone.”

Another popular app within our generation is TikTok. To some, TikTok going down for a day would be the end of the world, but according to Monson, he wouldn’t be too bothered.

“If TikTok went down, I think it would be a bummer because it’s a good way to pass time,” Monson said. “It’s a good way to connect and relate to people. I don’t think it would be the end of the world. Some people would take the opportunity and go out and be social, that’s what I would do. But, I have some friends that would probably just be fixated on it.”

Hiwot Reda, a chemistry health science major, said she found herself checking Instagram more than usual when it was down.

“I was, because I didn’t know what was going on,” Reda said.

Reda admits that she is reliant on social media. Comparing Instagram to other popular apps, such as Snapchat, Reda says if Snapchat were to crash it would have caused a bigger disruption. She goes on to say that many people at Wayne State College mainly use snapchat to communicate with their peers.

Sarah Johnson, a biology major, begins by describing her first reaction to Instagram not working.

“I thought my phone was broken or the Wi-Fi was broken. I turned on my data and that wasn’t working either,” Johnson said. “So, I refreshed like a million times and then I hopped on Twitter. It was annoying, which is probably stupid to say. But social media runs all of our lives now. So I was kind of annoyed because I wanted to get on Instagram.”

Like Reda, Johnson also admits that she is reliant on social media.

“I hate to say it, but yeah. That’s like a big way I communicate with my friends.”

Haley White, a science major, found herself coping in a healthier way when she realized her Instagram and Facebook were not working.

“When it wasn’t working I was like, okay I’m going to go do something else… I’m not a big social media person,” White said.

White mentioned that she has friends who are addicted to social media. When discussing social media addiction, White gave advice to those who may be struggling. “I’d just say it’s healthier for you to cut back on it mentally, to not be so mentally fixated on people seeing your stuff and getting likes,” White said.

Krystin Collins, an electronic media major, says she was very confused when opening Instagram and Facebook. Collins said she would continuously open the app to see if it was back to working or not. When Collins first noticed the outage, she was working on a project. She goes on to say that she finds herself more reliant on social media during pass time.

“I think during pass time because I was working on a project when I noticed it,” Collins said. “Stuff was loading, so I went on my phone to pass the time as stuff was loading because there was nothing else to do. So I rely on it as like a pass time.”