After watching this video earlier this week (almost 33m views now), I honestly was totally convicted and awakened to the reality of the situation; a situation that belongs to you and to me - all of us.
Social media has taken over our lives. Period. End of story.
Look around you. I mean, really? This is how it’s all supposed to be? Tweets?
For real? Get a life…(oh wait…that mirror I am holding is pointing right
back at me and I’m sure my tweeting niece will be glad to call me out on that
one…she’s one of my few followers). Some I know have built an entire persona
and “life” online with thousands of followers. Talk about empty. Yet it makes them feel good
so I get it...after all I tweet too.
I remember when we traveled to South Korea back in 2008 and
riding in the subway. Not one person talked yet everyone was on their phone. I
could have been standing there in my Yeti costume (now how many hits would that video get? and yes I do have one)
and not one person would have likely even noticed. The silence made the UT
library sound like a rave (do they still have those??).
Our world has gone silent and the irony of it is that it’s
all because of our phones. Yea, those things. You, know...the ones we used to
use by manually dialing a number that we had memorized (can you imagine?)
in order to actually speak directly to, in real time, our close friend. Back
then, yea, pre February 4, 2004, the only way to catch up with someone was to
actually talk to them or see them face-to-face. Now we don’t even bother using
FaceTime to chat on our phones much less call or stop by. Heck, we don’t even
spend the three minutes it takes to email anymore. Texting is even becoming rarer
as Facebook posts and tweets rule the day.
You can ask my wife. During the NFL season my phone blows
up. Not with calls mind you, but with texts, tweets and posts about the game. Really?
Yea, that’s way more fun than sitting in a sports bar all together screaming at
the TV while nachos fly off our plates. Seriously…stop the madness.
Facebook. It’s our great, late addiction. One hit and you’re
zapped like Josh Hamilton pre IamSecond and like him only Jesus can get you
unhooked. Our dependent use of it has happened in just a matter of 10 years and
it has taken some deep, long-time, great friendships and made them shallow,
infrequent and solely based on apps and technology. Almost pointless if you ask
me. If you don’t think so, you’re fooling yourself and will quickly prove me
right when you post a comment on this to disagree. Without the drug you wouldn’t
even be reading this. Yea, I caught you, looking down right now as you read
this didn’t I? Truth hurts, huh? I’ll still give you a warm Olaf like hug though. Just
let me go here and give you one real quick...
Don’t tell me you’re too busy either. I don’t recall the world
operating in slow motion before the techno-twins of Facebook and Twitter were shot
putted into our world. That’s just an excuse and frankly Facebook gives it to
you, just as it has me. Why call when you can skim the latest newsfeed and
catch up sitting in your undies? “I don’t need to see or hang out with ____ . I
just read their update earlier today. We’re good. Closer than a brother from
another mother.”
Truth is for me I am caught in a dilemma. I like Facebook
for the most part. I do. I have re-acquainted with old (in my case, I do mean
OLD), friends and people from years past and if not for Facebook I might not
even know those people still existed. It’s cool to see someone I haven’t
physically seen in 10-20 years and watch their lives from afar, keeping up with
goings on in nearly all 50 states and various countries around the world.
The opposite truth has a sad reality to it however and
that’s what’s been bugging me since I saw that video earlier this week and it’s
why I have been oddly silent. See there
are true friends (people I have actually shared some deep aspect of life with
in recent times) that I now rarely hear from or actually see. Some just a few
miles away but all just 10 digits away. I have some close friends who haven’t hugged or tussled the hair of
my kids in long time, years even. Heck I have a few that I have known for
decades that haven’t even met my son yet. Yea, the one that’s about to be 7. I
could have arranged for that but no need when my Facebook post makes it as if
they were right there with me, right?
Too many of our relationships exist for the most part
between two screens; theirs and mine. Yea, screens on smart phones.
Phones we never use anymore to actually call and say “hey, what you doing right
now? Want some coffee? Can we talk? You guys wanna come over? Wanna hit Waffle
House before Fallon?” Smart phones being
used by dumb people. Frankly, I wonder if some of my friends would react with
caution of a new Amway presentation if I actually called and said any of these
things to them. Sadly, just as I have many times myself, they’d probably text
me, tweet me or message me “can’t right now but let’s touch base later”. Yea,
well…
I almost wished I could relegate Facebook to just news,
events and people I just wanna to stay current with, leaving the others to the
way it used to be. Sure I like to see the photos of the kids, trips and such, but
look at what we have exchange all of that for?Not to mention what we are teaching our kids and the next generation. Holy cow...can you even imagine 20 years from now?
But I can’t say any of this without saying first this: I’m
sorry. You know who I am talking to and if you’re in that group and I haven’t
called, dropped by, or done my part…my bad. Yea, I suck. I’ve let the
Facebook juju take me down with the rest
of society.
In the end it’s about balance people…but apparently we
haven’t downloaded Balanced yet, a smart phone app designed to help us with
that. Idiocracy is alive and well, isn’t it?
(By the way….Yea, I still blog. Remember those from way back
in 2004?)
I’m not even sure the narrow road of fraternal intimacy exists
at all anymore but I’m gonna try and find it and if you want to come with
me…come on. Sure, we will post about it. Why not? But we will be sharing the juju together when
we do and that’s what matters.
Look for my call peeps. I hope you will return it. If not, just
don’t comment when I post about you failing to. You’re an addict remember?
(c) 2014 J. Brady Speers
I Say It How I See It and I Make No Bones About It
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
(c) 2014 J. Brady Speers
I Say It How I See It and I Make No Bones About It
