The Best Social Media is Conversing With Real People

It is a great feeling to have everything that we ever need at our fingertips, but at the same time it can be very scary to look around at a public place and all we see are people with their faces glowing from LED displays. I have learned that with all things, using technology can be a great thing in moderation but it is very easy to go overboard. For me, it was a few years ago and I was having a heated conversation with someone I’ve never met about a football player and his actions on social media. My then three year old son wanted me to play with him and asked me a few times and I told him that I would as soon as I was done. By the time my battery died on my phone, I looked up and he had fallen asleep right on the floor a few feet away from me and I had not even noticed. This really opened my eyes to the real world that I was missing out on. I immediately suspended my account for over a month and used my phone strictly as a phone and not as my lifeline. I did get back on social media but am only on one site and set rules for myself, no phone at the dinner table, no phone an hour before I go to bed and that my phone will never come before my family. I think that social media can be a great avenue to vent or keep up with current events and keep in touch with those people that we maybe normally wouldn’t but when it becomes your life, it is time to put the iPhone down and recall what reality is.

As I see the irony for writing this post for an online blog that many of you will be reading on your phone, I’m not necessarily advocating for the Andrew Luck style flip phone (http://www.aol.com/article/2016/08/26/what-did-andrew-luck-get-after-his-140-million-deal-a-new-flip/21459646/) but we all need to know our limits and our priorities, if you find your phone to be a higher priority than your job or loved ones, maybe it is time to reprioritize. I love my smart phone and would hate my life without it but if I am around real live humans, I do not need to check on my social media persona (though I may be bad at checking the score of the game from time to time). I used to travel with work a lot and when I would go out to eat by myself, I was always amazed at the amount of couples that would sit together and both have faces engulfed in their phones, I wanted to go say that they should be thankful for their company but I didn’t, I just continued to scroll and like funny cat videos while I waited for my food.

Though it is much debated, my wife and I have seen a big difference in my son when he plays video games or the tablet regularly. We have removed the game console from our house and he is only allowed to use the tablets at restaurants that provide them (let’s be honest, it is nice to get a few minutes of peace at a restaurant) or as a rare reward. He is very quick to point out if he feels that either of us are on our phones too much and usually he is correct. We all need these little reminders that real life is not worth giving up just so that we can check on the latest trend, and if anyone needs a reminder, you can feel free to babysit ours!