Facebook

I have a love/hate relationship with social media.  I love that I can keep up with friends who live far away.  I love that I can maintain contact with people who I may not have stayed in contact with.  Yet, I hate how Facebook has caused people (myself included! Guilty as charged!) to waste their lives away.  It's not "real life".

The other day I was out to dinner with my boyfriend and I noticed at the table next to us a family of four was literally ALL on their phones waiting for their food to arrive.  They weren't talking, they weren't interacting, their faces were glued to the screen.

First of all, HOW IS A 5 INCH SCREEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR FAMILY?

Second, how sad is it that our society has become this way?  Dare I say it, the information at our fingertips has made us lazy.  Smartphones are making us dumb.

Not to mention at the restaurant there was so much stimulation.  Screens everywhere with the latest baseball game, America's Funniest Home Videos, and CNN.  It's almost as though we need to be constantly entertained and we need to have something to do constantly.  I'm guilty of it.  But does that truly enhance your life?

Lately I've been asking myself "does this benefit my life?" when I find myself perusing Facebook.  Usually, 99% of the time, the answer is no.  When the answer is no I close my browser.  The world is so much more than news updates that we get from our friends.

Even as I was writing this post I found myself going back to Facebook and checking it.  For what purpose?  To see what had happened in the past 5 minutes?  Knowing when to disconnect is important, and I need to reconnect with that.  So that's my goal.  Maybe I'll set a timer next time I'm on.  I hope I'll spend a day or two totally disconnected from technology.  Small steps, one step at a time.