UNITED STATES—My sister shared something with me that baffled me: my niece is so drawn to her phone that she would be on it all day if it never had to be charged. She was sharing a story about how her daughter was supposed to be sleep as she had school the next morning. Granted, my niece is only 7 people. Anyway, my sister kept seeing a light come from my niece’s bedroom, so she decided to go investigate. My niece decided to fake like she was sleep, when my sister knew she was on her phone. She got busted red-handed, but it raises a bigger question: why are we so glued to social media and technology?
Look, I do not have social media, and the accounts that I have are used for work purposes only, and I barely utilize social media. I’m not one to have this need to post my life and everything I do via social media. I don’t want the world to know everything I’m doing and I think you lose so much vibrancy in life by worrying what the hell is going on when it comes to social media and what people are talking about.
Kids today are without a doubt glued to technology. They have to have it and if they don’t have it, man be prepared for some screaming and tantrums. They can get so epic, even after you placed your foot down telling the kid they would NOT have that device for a few days or a week, you’ve caved in because you cannot take it anymore. Our goal nowadays is too simply to do whatever we can to keep the kids quiet. Rather that is giving the cellphone, giving them the tablet or some other electronic device; we want peace in the household or in the car.
I go back to my childhood, and remember there was no such technology and life was easier. Why? Kids actually had to be kids. We played outside, we conversed with one another, we played board games, the only thing we had was video games, but they weren’t as massive as they are today. You didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and all these other social platforms that have consumed the lives of so many tweens and teens. They are so concerned about likes and being wanted that it takes a toll on their mental state. Social media has become the new form of bullying because people can hide behind a screen.
I almost feel like people should be forced to reveal their identity, phone number or address on social media. I mean if you’re going to post a nasty, hurtful, racist or insensitive comment, why are you hiding behind a computer? Do you not have anything better to do than annoy other people or hope to deliver a blow to their self-esteem. If you do, take a look in the mirror and see how pitiful your life is.
We all need a digital detox, just a few days, even a week where we take ourselves away from email, our cellphones, our social media any form of technology that takes us away from the rest of the world. We need to take that break and get back to living life. Life is too short to worry about what everyone else thinks and what they are doing 24/7, and social media used to be a way to communicate, but now it just dictates the lives of children, teens, adults and even the elderly at this point.
Written By Kelsey Thomas
