Twitter is one of the hottest Internet trends today, allowing its members to post messages to the world about anything ranging from inspirational quotes to what the user has eaten that day. It also permits users to post pictures, links to other websites and videos. Yet, with so many possibilities, users are capped at 140 characters. While Twitter (and its contemporaries) was introduced to the World Wide Web as an effort to make communication easier, it has actually complicated life.
With modern technology, we can send a message regarding whatever to whomever, wherever, whenever in a matter of seconds. This should make life easy, but problems do become apparent. Miscommunications are sent to the wrong readers who then forward the message to others who will then post it on Facebook. In three seconds, your “oh so simple” world has become very problematic, literarily with the push of one, single button. Still, when asked if we wish to simplify our lives, it is impossible for anyone in our generation to say yes, because everyday with every “easy” button we push, tweet we post, picture we comment on and link we forward, we complicate our world. While we do choose to keep the world updated on our life at all times (though we understand most of the world could not give a single shit), I think it is possible in today’s society to do the opposite and simplify.
To those who do dream of simpler days of reading breaking news from the newspaper, not cnn.com (or worse, The Skimm emails which legitimately condense a 50 page newspaper into 8 simple paragraphs) and where not every common citizen is the next Annie Liebowitz (I mean with all the photography apps out there, I could publish the cover of the next month’s National Geographic), I give you three words of advice: live for you. Do not tweet, but do. Take a dip in the arb to enjoy Spring’s weather in Ann Arbor, not to mupload adorable pictures and make your Facebook “friends” (and by friends, I mean your 1525 acquaintances) jealous. Wear an outfit twice because you like how you look, and do not worry that you have already been tagged in pictures in this particular outfit. Take pictures of your first Halloweek at Michigan to have memories (because honestly, without them what will you remember?), not to receive comments about how slutty-cute your outfit is. Instagram a picture of cheesy bread with icing not for the likes, but to ACTUALLY eat it. And please, stop stressing about which filter makes your arm look skinnier. In a world where we wake up to our phone’s buzzing with our latest e-mails and fall asleep texting our friends, it is easy to forget where we are going, and who needs to know (and who cares). If you limit your constant communications, you may realize what makes you happy and you may find life much simpler.
It is not hard to see that we are all Internet addicts; we thrive on posting, tweeting, stalking, viewing, listening and commenting. Our fingers twitch and hands shake when our phone dies hours before class is over or when you are stuck in horrible traffic. But, there is a trend I have began to notice of people finally quitting the virtual world to face reality. A few of my friends have done the impossible and actually have deleted their Facebooks. While sad for us users who solely find a question mark next to their names, my friends report that their lives are drastically different, for the better. And, I can attest to the feeling. When I spend my summers upstate, where the population barely reaches 500, I do not care to check Facebook, Tweet or scroll through Instagram.
Here is the thing, we may not wish to deactivate completely, to erase our locations from GPS, to delete our identities from the virtual map of life. We may (and trust me, there is no denying the great feeling of elation you get when your Instagram receives double-digit likes in less than 10 minutes) love the gossip, the feeling of walking into a room knowing the girl in the corner from a friend of a friend’s profile picture, or the simple satisfaction of being retweeted; knowing that somewhere in that crazy universe someone agrees with you, even if it is just that they like your Starbucks order. But taking a note from Thoreau, when our affairs are counted on one hand and our to-do lists are nonexistent, that is when we are most content. Our happiest memories are not located within a video-chat, but occur in THE REAL world, not corrupted by tabloids and emails. So, maybe Thoreau was not only giving advice to his contemporaries, but to the citizens of the future. He warns his readers not to complicate life by trying to please or impress others, but to worry about pleasing ourselves. While that rush of excitement comes with every unexpected text, the real happiness that lasts is from the moments you spend doing, not tweeting.