Laying in bed trying to think of topics to write about and share with the world; I suddenly realized that I think I might be losing something about me and I blame it on this new world of social media. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE using social media to keep in contact with old friends and long distance family. I even enjoy being able to share inspiring photos and quotes while also seeing the latest picture of my best friend's kids being silly. However, I am starting to realize that I am losing my creativity. I am losing something inside of me. I used to be able to write about things that mattered to me without much thought at all. I wish I still had all those spiral notebooks with the short stories and essays that I wrote sitting at home alone without anything to do. I can't even remember what I would write about.
Even though social media has allowed us to stay connected in ways that we never imagined even 10 years ago, are we too connected with one another? Have I started sharing too much information on my Facebook news feed? I have started to pay attention to what I am sharing with my Facebook Friends and I am making more of an effort to censor what I post. I do think that having so much information at our fingertips 24/7 is in fact changing who we are as people. For example, while standing in line at the polls waiting to vote on the Presidential Primary, no one was talking. nearly everyone in line was glued to their smart phones. I am sure that most of those people where engaged in some sort of activity involving social media. Four years ago when I was standing in line to vote for president, no one was looking at their cell phone, we were making conversation with our neighbors who were also in line to vote.
It makes me sad to think that because of all of the "great" ways that we can keep in touch with each other, I am losing some of the fundamental things that make me - well - me. Are we creating a world of anti-social, tech-dependent human beings who can't carry on an intelligent conversation without staring needlessly at our computers or smartphones? Then I think about my teenaged daughter. All she does is stay in her room doing one of may 4 activities: she is either watching netflix, completing her home school lessons online, listening to music so loud that it drowns out everything else around her or she is texting, snap chatting, or posting selfies on Instagram. I don't think I have had a meaningful conversation with her in at least a year.
Now, I know that social media isn't fully to blame, but it sure plays a huge role in the way our lives have changed. My husband and I sit next to each other watching TV while we each play games on our iPhones. We go out to a restaurant for dinner and instead of talking to each other about our day, we occupy ourselves by surfing the internet while waiting for the server to bring our meals.
When I think about how much my life has changed after the advent of social media, I know that I am not the only one. The majority of people my age and younger build their lives in this Facebook and Twitter world. How do we find a balance? How do we stop being so dependent on our social media accounts and get back to the simple pleasures of life like reading books & magazines and sitting at a dinner table, telling each other about our days and sharing our hopes and dreams with our voices, not our fingers.
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