Without a doubt, technology has dramatically increased in our lifetime. Especially for our generation. Our generation has grown up watching TV, listening to music on our iPod touches, and playing games on computers.
However, when us Milennials were younger, we still read books, played outside, and made human interactions without involving social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, etc. The younger generation is growing up without the experience of what it felt like to read books and play outside. Instead, they spend their time indoors, watching TV, and playing on iPads.
Teenagers can barely walk to class without looking up from their phones or sending a snapchat to their friend they saw five minutes prior. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am guilty of this too, but my question is: how can we stop it? I don’t think anyone realizes it in the moment, but being tuned into our cell phones all the time can really take away some really great life experiences. For all you know, you could have just walked by someone that could have been a new friend, or a new partner. We fail to engage in face to face communication because we are too busy following what everyone else is doing on social media.
Not only are we missing important experiences by being on our phones, but we may be competing too hard for people we think we care about, rather than allowing things to happen naturally, the way they should. A cute boy on Instagram? Oh, let me update my feed to make myself more appealing to what he seems to be interested in. OMG, Graham likes dogs? Let me make my Twitter header a bunch of cute dogs! His ex girlfriend was a model? Okay, well I am going to make myself look like a model so he finally notices me!
No. Girls, this is not how it is done! As I have mentioned before, women are such strong and independent beings, and nobody can take that away from us. I can say the same about men, too. We ALL need to get off of our phones and live in the moment. We have no idea what we’re missing out on until we give it a try.
But like I said: Is it too late? Do we even have the ability to go back in time and experience the way things used to be? Or are we stuck here, being warped into cell phones, social media, and insane technology that hasn’t even been released yet?
Trying to impress others through our social media is honestly heartbreaking. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes that people are unaware of. This is a huge contributor to mental health issues and confidence problems in our society. We must remember that the ‘perfect’ lives we see on our news feeds do not equate to perfect lives in reality. Everyone has their struggles behind closed doors. Social media just seems to be the place to make things seem perfect, even when they are not.
Please, for the love of the world around us today, approach a stranger, and engage in a conversation about, well, anything! It’ll be worth it. Promise.