*Well, it was bound to happen. We are on vacation, and we didn't have wireless connectivity last night, so I missed posting for the first time in 2015. Sorry about that, but I promise, I did actually write this last night. :-)
The New York Times is going to feature
your blog on its home page, and you’ve been asked to publish a new post — it’ll
be the first thing tens of thousands of new readers see. Write it.
Life unplugged. What does it mean for you? For me, it means this blog doesn’t get posted
on time and possibly, my future career
is dead in the water, at least with the New York Times. (Lol) For my 13-year-old
son, it’s torture. We are currently in
the San Juan Islands without wi-fi available where we are staying, and he is so
antsy about getting hooked up, he can’t stand it. “But I can’t talk to my
friends.” For my mother-in-law, it’s simply inconvenient. She would like to be
able to hook up, but she’s not really worried about it. My husband is only concerned about it because
he knows I am breaking my New Year’s resolution to post something every day on
my blog, and he would like to help me keep my commitment. My father-in-law
doesn’t notice, and my 11 year old, really doesn’t notice either. So what’s wrong with me and my oldest
son? Why can’t we unplug for a single
night or three?
You want to know the bald-faced honest truth as I see
it? Well, it’s because social media is
how we relate to each other now. It’s how we stay involved in each other’s
lives. It’s how we live vicariously through others. I know more about my friend’s and family member’s
every day lives than I ever did before Facebook. I rarely personally e-mail or text them or
heaven forbid, phone them, but I keep up with them through what they choose to
share with “friends” on social media. I
envy those friends who have more time and means to travel the world than I do,
and I “travel” with them as they post pictures and stories of their
adventures. I “move” with friends who
are starting life in a new place, and I mourn with them as they suffer the loss
of a pet or loved one.
As neat as this is to be able to keep up with friends far
away in an almost instantaneous manner and connect with people you might never
have without social media, it’s also sad to me.
What happened to chatting over a glass of wine at the beach or meeting
at the local hole-in-the-wall diner for breakfast? What happened to taking the time out of our
busy lives to personally connect with each other face-to-face? Nothing, I
guess. It’s just that we do it less and less.
It’s that pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. We are in the extreme addiction to our
phones, tablets, and social media stage, and soon we’ll start coming down and
balance out before swinging too far the other direction.
Life
unplugged. It’s almost unheard of in today’s world. My children don’t remember
a world where they couldn’t get “online” or use “wi-fi” to get the latest game
or text their friends. It is our life
now, but we mustn’t forget to balance it out with time in nature, time
unplugged from all electronics, time spent with family, friends, and the quiet
solitude of a walk in the woods. We
mustn’t forget what the roar of the ocean sounds likes when you are standing
right in front of it. Or the smell of
the rain after many dry days. Or the
touch of a warm hand on your forearm during a heart-to-heart talk. We mustn’t forget life and what it feels like
outside of a computer screen. It’s life,
unplugged.
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