What is an addiction? Addiction is defined as the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. When most people think of addiction they think of drugs, alcohol, or sex. But there are other forms of addiction too. The latest one that has been brought to my attention is Social Media. On-line websites or platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Kik, Instagram, and Twitter can take over a person’s life and suck up their time.

I have been through this myself, especially in my younger years. Facebook was everything for a while. First thing I would do in the morning when I woke up was to grab my phone and check on the latest from Facebook. I could spend hours on the games that Facebook had or chatting with friends on messenger.

A lot of people may think that they aren’t addicted but they really are. Next time you’re in the mall or driving down a busy street just stop and look at all the people on their phones. Social Media has sucked us all in. If we aren’t posting what we did minute by minute, I have friends like this on Facebook, we’re checking in to see what other’s have posted.

It’s affecting the way that we behave with one another. People don’t know how to react to live interaction with another person. It’s become a foreign concept to all of us. We’d rather socialize online with people that we don’t really know that to actually speak to a person, in person

What’s this doing to our children? My son is 3 and he already knows how to operate his kindle and my phone to look at YouTube videos. Hours of his day could be spent looking at a screen if I allowed it. I want him to grow up being involved in life not watching someone else on a screen. I often think of what the world is going to be like when he is a grown up. Will communication be like in the movie Wall-E? will everyone communicate on a screen even if they are sitting right next to each other? Is the internet really taking over our world with Social Media?

Is Social Media ruining our real-world relationships? Are we all getting sucked into the vortex of the digital age? Is there a way to stop it? It’s become such a way of life that we don’t really think about what it’s doing to us in the long run. Instead of spending time doing the more important things in life we get sucked into the tiny screens on our phones. It’s almost as if the digital world is the real world and the real world is fake and non-existent.

I’ve made one simple rule for myself. When everyone is home and no longer busy with the daily tasks my phone gets put away. I turn off my notifications and just live in the now. Whether it be playing with my kiddo or watching a movie together as a family.

I challenge all my readers to unplug from the social media and experience life in the real world instead of living in the digital world. You might be surprised by just how much you notice.