Autumn is now officially in full swing. The onset of October last week brought about the annual “autumn craze” that a lot of people on this campus seem to fall prey to.

Many people, on this campus especially, seem to go crazy for autumn and everything that has to do with it, including: hay rides, barn dances, flannels, apple cider and pumpkin spice lattes.

This is especially prevalent in the month of October on this campus, specifically since we have an “October Lovers Club” and Curtis Orchard, where people make trips out to for apple picking and donuts.

While I too enjoy autumn to a certain extent, it is far from the best season of the year — I do not understand why people are so in love with it, as it marks the end of the summer, which is a much better season.

Christine Grady, sophomore in DGS, says that she too has noticed that people here seem really into the month of October, and has even noticed the recent Twitter trends about the month, but similarly doesn’t “understand why people love fall so much.”

She expanded to mention that her favorite season is “summer because it’s warm outside and I don’t have as many responsibilities.”

Certain things and situations get hyped up all the time, especially on social media, causing people to over-exaggerate their significance.

People behind screens frequently blow things out of proportion, and unfortunately, the rest of social media users often go along with this new, hyped-up version of reality.

That is what I believe happened with the month of October.

According to Pew Research, about three quarters of the entire online population use social media sites.http://www.cyberalert.com/blog/index.php/deconstructing-social-media-the-hype-the-lies-and-the-actual-truth/

KLAnd that number is increasing, making it easy to manipulate society’s mind set on certain topics and issues.Businesses also use social media for marketing because it is a cheap and easy way to get the message to the masses — hence why Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte has its own Twitter. http://www.business2community.com/social-media/impact-social-media-truly-society-0974685#jPRd5eBxOXixbgoG.97

KLPerhaps this “October Craze” is merely a social media marketing strategy for flannels and cider.

Last Thursday, as I was scrolling through my Twitter newsfeed, I was shocked to see how the majority of the tweets had to do with October.

I saw tweets such as “it’s finally October!” and “Happy October 1!”

Even tweets talking about all the fun things that could be done now that is was “finally” October.

With a few Google searches I learned that other people were noticing the recent interest in all things October as well. I came across an article titled “Why people love October,” explaining a plethora of reasons such as the changing leaves and weather and getting to wear scarves and other accessories.

And of course, people love Halloween.http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/reasons-people-love-october/collection_229d53d5-569d-57ac-a38a-8d425772cc15.html

Dario Kikas, freshman in Business, can understand where people are coming from with loving the month of October. He says “the weather is perfect because it is not too hot and not too cold.”

But he also loves the season of spring for the same reason, furthering how standard fall really is.

I understand enjoying certain aspects of October, however turning the whole month into a holiday does not seem warranted; it acknowledges the fact that the carefree months of summer are almost over and the school year has just begun with no ending yet in sight.

People should not always listen to the hype, especially on the month of October, because in reality, it is not as great as people believe it is.

It seems that students at Illinois have their own personal reasons to enjoy autumn. I can understand that, perhaps social media has just taken it too far.

October is all right, but it is not, and will never be, a reason to celebrate in my book.

Courtney is a sophomore in LAS.

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