It's been about six years since I started playing Candy Crush Saga. I have never been in to games, but I just happened to cave that one day. I am close to level 4,000 now which means I am still plugging along. Admittedly, King (the owner of Candy Crush Saga) has absolutely received a few bucks from me in sheer desperation to advance one level, but, a dollar a year is pretty reasonable all things considered. And, I am keeping my brain busy.
When I started to play games on my phone, the rest of the cell phone world was exploding, too. Mainly, social media. I remember when Facebook came out, I had no interest and quite frankly I was going to be a MySpace member for life. There were just too many ways you could design your profile, and too little time to do it. Remember all the fights you had with your friends because of the order on your top 8? Not to mention the founder Tom Anderson was always in spot #1 and no one ever got jealous about that. This was all just the beginning of what was soon to be everyone's addiction.
Raise your hand if you have found yourself doing any of the following:
1. Comparing yourself to people online (body, success, relationship, family, etc).
2. Mindlessly scrolling social channels for hours and not knowing what you are looking at.
3. Taking photos solely to post them on social media.
4. Feeling validated when a COMPLETE stranger "likes" your photo.
I will raise my hand. I have been guilty of ALL of that. Sure, Social Media can be wonderful- but you have to set boundaries. Recently, I put out a request for birthday cards for my mom in hopes to get 100. I got over 200 responses in under 24 hours. THINGS LIKE THAT are why social media is useful (and amazing). But, when we get caught up in things like letting online trolls raise our blood pressure, comparing ourselves to others, and misinterpretations- social media isn't so great.
I started to realize in my life I wasn't present, and was missing a lot of moments because the phone is so utterly distracting to just pick up and fidget with. My Instagram is loaded with unfiltered sunrises, dog photos, November Project days, cats, and tattoos---mostly. That's right now. However, If I were to review my entire existence on Instagram, that wouldn't be the case.
I went through a phase where I wanted to be an Ambassador for everything. I would get more followers. I would be an influencer, wouldn't I?
I was taking what I call "plandids" where you want to act like you were mid stride looking real good on that run and a photographer just happened to capture you at the perfect moment, when in reality, you ran by the self timer 100 times to get that shot. When technology advanced, you went to videos and screen shots.We have all seen my race photos and know what I look like in candid running shots. HOW MUCH TIME DID I WASTE WITH THIS? AND WHY? So someone who I don't even know will press a little heart and never know anything about who I am as a person? Just that I added a filter to accentuate my leg muscle?
We have completely lost ourselves to our phones, and nothing is private anymore, and nothing is enjoyed in the moment anymore. People are adding to their "stories" for their entire honeymoon. Baby announcements are being made minutes after birth. Death is "just another post". We are totally desensitized. To everything. Is it just going to get worse?
When I was thinking about this blog, I looked back on my posts, and thought about some recent things I have noticed on Facebook and Instagram. Example- I have posted things on Instagram that mean a lot and send a POSITIVE and REAL message out. That post get's less "traffic" than a vain selfie. WE ARE THE PROBLEM HERE. Also, I was scrolling a town forum recently. Someone posted about a family who suffered a tragic loss asking for help. ONE comment/acknowledgement. ONE!!! The other post right by it was someone complaining about their takeout from Domino's Pizza- over 100 comments of empty threats and angry people. OVER CINNAMON STICKS YOU GUYS. Am I the only one who is angry about this? Peoples reputations, lives, and businesses are being destroyed because of things like this. Someone else has to see a problem here.
You won't ever get happiness by validation from strangers, believe me.
STOP Editing your photos / START loving imperfections.
STOP burying your face in your phone when out with friends/family / START human connection.
STOP worrying about strangers opinions / START being present for those you love, they'll make you feel better.
Holy shit, I'm getting old.
