Let’s face it. Since the creation of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media outlets we as a society have completely changed the way we do things and have become more self-obsessed than what may have ever been considered humanly possible ten years ago.
How many times have you gone on a family outing or a date with your significant other or to a girls or guys night out and completely stopped what you are doing to “check-in” on Facebook? How many times has your kid or puppy done something cute and you completely miss out on the moment because you cannot get the video on your phone working so you can upload this adorable moment on YouTube? And do you find yourself personally invested in the social or personal life of someone you went to high school with who you barely even talked to when you were actually in high school? Statistics show that the average person logs into Facebook six times a day and seventy percent login every time they start their computer.
We all know that social media outlets, especially Facebook, are a huge waste of time (at least in some respects). But not only that, they have allowed us to become more and more self-obsessed as individuals and as a society. I am glad that you cooked a nice healthy dinner for yourself, but do you really need take a picture of it and upload it to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook? Or in some cases, all three? And I am sorry that you could not find your keys and were ten minutes late to work today, but is it necessary to tell everybody this via Twitter? And I am glad that you have the most wonderful hubby in the world, but come on people; don’t you think that could be considered bragging just a little bit? Would you text that to everybody on your contact list? Then why do you post that on your Facebook or Twitter for everyone to see? It seems that we know every detail of so many people’s lives right now whether we want to or not. The sad thing is, deep down, we actually want to, which is exactly why we spend so much time looking at these websites. And it seems that we want everyone to know every detail of our life as well. Whether it is for attention, justification from others, or maybe we just do not have anything else to do (although we probably have a million other things we could and should be doing).
Whatever happened to the days of just living our lives, without having to tell everyone exactly what we are doing? Is it possible to go to a concert, or a movie, or even the park anymore without “checking-in” or uploading multiple pictures? And you have to love the mobile upload option, now we can upload pictures and videos at almost the exact moment that these things are happening.
Social media in many ways is RUINING our lives and I suppose there is not much more to be said on this topic. This is just my opinion after all and a little food for thought. And if you could please excuse me now, I must go log-in to my Facebook and Twitter so that I can post a link to this blog.
