Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Sand in my eyes

Looking around on certain Facebook groups I've noticed something. Because we are all stuck on social media sites like Facebook and twitter, we think we've escaped wanting real life. The truth is, these sites (or the people on these sites) are attempting to find ways to interact as though we are actually in the room with them. I continue to see these pictures (which I admit to liking some) that say "like in 2 seconds if you like this hairstyle" or "like in 1 second if you did this as a kid." Even more telling are the pictures that have become as bad a chain emails. Ones like, "like this if you love your mom, keep scrolling if you don't." Some if these scare tactic posts even involve if you truly love God, but something tells me He is beyond Facebook likes.  Why are we not satisfied with simply speaking to our friends through comments, statuses, and chat?  I think we miss the interaction of actually going out and simply hanging out with people. There is never a purpose of hanging out, you simply sit and talk.  There is nothing wrong with interacting on social media, but it's becoming obvious that, for some people, they use it as a replacement for actual social interaction. We think that we are more connected now than ever because of the Internet, but I think it also separates us a great deal. As an introvert, it's very tempting to simply "stay home." If you stay home, you don't have to worry about interacting. You can login and logout as you choose. Wrong. Today, we are so fixated on our "internet friends," that we barely take the time to login to the real world. We constantly check for notifications or retweets and we are never truly free. How many if us turn off our computer at night, only to climb in bed and check Facebook one more time on our mobile devices. It's like we have a constant devotion to our new friend the Internet itself. Maybe we should all take some time to unplug for a while. Read a book. Go outside. Talk to people. You'll be glad you did.