Most of us wonder what happened in our world. How did it become so …. Not sure there is word to describe this state we are in. Some will say: we are connected to each other in a better way. But others will say: this has gone too far. Where do we draw the line? Is there even one?
The social media took off and it is ever rising. There is no stopping it and there is no slowing it down. It has officially become MAN’s newest addiction. We went from my space and Facebook to Twitter and Instagram. We went from selfies to sharing every significant to non significant photo; capturing “the moment”. We went from hashtag a photo or text to using it in our actual conversations. If that isn’t going too far, please tell me what it is. And sadly, it’s gonna get worse with time. Just wait and see.
There is no denying that the technology of the Internet and what came after have improved the quality of our lives. It has made things easier and things that were impossible are now possible. There is absolutely great benefits out of the creation of the social media world, whether on a personal or business level. But everything when taken to the extreme, will have a negative side to it. And it is obvious that the extreme has already been in motion for several years.
The effect of this negative side of the social media is enormous. We may not see it now or some of us may be already seeing it. However, it is inevitable for you to experience the brunt of it in your personal life. You will notice that your relationships are not the same. Your family bonds is almost non existent. Your own growth as an individual is slower if you even pay attention to that at all.
Gone are the days where you sit and read a book. And why would you. There is e-books now. No need to buy it, just download it. Then you get distracted while reading cause you just received a notification from email or iMessage. How productive is your reading now. Then you go and post your status is reading (blah blah blah) book. And take a screenshot or picture of it, post it and hashtag: #reading #metime #greatbook #thisismylife. Need I say more? I just have one question: how are you enjoying it or having “you” time when you are online posting it rather than actually doing it?? Just wondering.
Gone are the days that family gathered every weekend to watch a game or a movie and sit at the table together for a meal. You skip one weekend then another then it stops completely with the excuse you are busy and got things to do. Probably things not as important as family time but you decided somewhere along the line; it was. And if you did show up, you are on your device sending msgs and voice notes, taking selfies with the food you are eating and sharing it with the world. Not that anyone cares what you are eating and who you are with. You forgot that you were there to spend time with the people that love you. All you care about is sharing your moment; the one you didn’t really live or enjoy, as you claimed on your hashtag.
Gone are the days when you picked up the phone to call a friend. And why would you? You got many ways of communicating available to you. And bonus, you can actually have three to four conversations at the same time with different people just by holding your device in your hand. Thanks to what’s app. It has made everything possible. Not that I am knocking it down. I love it. I am just as addicted to it as everyone else. We can send photos, videos, voice notes ….. Everything really. There is nothing we can’t do. Only thing maybe is to be online and have the person jump out of the screen and be sitting next you and when ready to go, jump back into the device and go back to your original place. I guess that means time travel. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens in the next couple of years.
Funny isn’t it. Yes, I am laughing too. But ladies and gentleman this is no laughing matter. Look at your children, what are they learning? They don’t know any better. This life and this social media world is all they know. They didn’t get to live the days we lived. The ones where we played in the mud and created things with our hands. The ones where effort was made to stay in touch with family and friends genuinely. The ones where we prioritized what is really important. Where privacy of your own life was a good thing. Where sitting in quietness was not boredom. And the list goes on.
So here we are in the era of status updates, selfies, and hashtags. All those things are not bad, but if our lives revolved around it, then it is. I urge you to teach the new generation to learn from the others mistakes. I urge you to lead by example. Find the balance in your life from the old school-way and the new world we live in-way. We cannot go back to the past and undo what we learned and created, and in fact we shouldn’t. But we can move forward and find the balance between the two extremes. It is possible, if we all tried.
Sorry, I don’t tweet or do selfies. I will agree that technology makes things to easy at times. People get made and right away they either send off an email or text to the other person without thinking, then they come to regret what was said.