by Cathy
I want to throw the book at Facebook.
I want Twitter to go down the shitter.
I want to flush YouTube down the DrainTube.
I want to feed SchoolFeed to the wolves.
I have no interest in Pinterest.
I have been SuckedIn by LinkedIn.
I have squared off with FourSquare.
I have Negativity towards Google Plus.
Friend, like, poke, check-in, link, connect, follow, pin, tweet, chirp, blog, share, retweet, mention, download, upload, tag, flag, tumble, instagram, view, click, comment, status, invite, update, highlight, feature, bing, ping, pong, join, unfriend, unfollow, dislike, check out, LOG OFF.
Too much is too much. How much more can we take? How many more "friends" and "connections" and "interests" do we need? How many times do we need to connect with the SAME people on yet another social media platform? How much more of our time can these sites suck from our lives?
Remember back in the day when the television set was called "The Idiot Box"? We have so many versions of televisions these days that we have officially become an Idiot Box Society. All day long, we are plugged into something - our desktops, our laptops, our iPads, our iPods, our Wii, our xBox, our DS, oh yeah, our televisions and lest not we forget the biggest Idiot Box of all - our smartphones. This title is bestowed upon smartphones purely for their portability and because of that, their constant accessability.
We are texting, gaming, linking, YouTubing, Facebooking, Twittering, Pinning, FourSquaring our way into social isolation (yes, even with 2,482 "friends" on Facebook) and self-awareness oblivion. What are we doing WHILE we are doing all of the above? Walking, driving, conversing with a live person, watching television (now, one electronic gadget at a time is not sufficient - we are on two and three devices at a time), eating (heck, I'm having lunch as I type this), working, working out, using the bathroom (I am guilty of this too) and pretty much every necessary daily task you can think of. If we could check our phones while we slept or were having sex, we would be doing that too. Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure people have covered that last one already.
People - it's time to stop.
Put down your phones and step away. In fact, put ALL of your techy thingies down and go out for a walk. With your kids. Or with your dog. Take in your surroundings. Be more aware of where you are right now, this minute. Start a conversation with a person on the street instead of posting endless, trite comments with people who live only out in the stratosphere. Have a real life human connection with someone you can actually touch.
Before I got my smartphone, I used to make fun of Patti because she was constantly nursing her Blackberry. She was on it so often I started saying things like, "Got that Crackberry on the nipple again, huh?" Granted, she was in real estate sales at the time, which, DUH!, makes total sense considering she needed to be in touch with the constant, demanding needs of her clients, right? But now...what's MY excuse? My iPhone has become a drug, an addiction, a sickening habit. My urge to check it constantly is like a tick my body responds to without my brain even thinking about it.
But I am slowly backing away from it. If I'm at home, I try not to even turn it on. I keep it in my purse at work. I'm picking and choosing the top two or three social media platforms I want to use - no more than that. I'm not cutting off my ties but stretching them out longer.
I once read that losing your smartphone now is much more detrimental than losing your wallet. That puts things into perspective, doesn't it? People have their whole life programmed onto their phones - including the capability to use it as a debit card, access bank accounts, start their cars or set security alarm systems for their houses. I don't know but it sounds like dangerous territory to me. Let's not get too reliant on technology, folks. Because it will eventually screw us over in some way, shape or form when we are least expecting it. Sometimes, "old school" is the best school.
And in case you're wondering which way you lean, you are 'old school' when you make reference to the 'Idiot Box'.
