I have a habit of people watching. It doesn't matter if it’s a group of friends, a family, or a couple. I just love watching how people interact with one another.
Unfortunately for me, it has actually become hard to find people communicating. By ‘communicating’ I mean with the real people surrounding them. I rarely see anyone giving their full attention (or any attention at all) to the people they are out with.
Everyone is constantly consumed with their phones. Searching through every newsfeed— Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on. One by one, they refresh and scroll through all of the latest posts.
Often people attribute this to our generation, but it seems to me that it really doesn’t matter if someone is young, old, or somewhere in between. Here I am sitting in a little coffee house writing this as I watch a mom and her young daughter have lunch together. They are barely touching their food, because that would require putting their phones down, an idea which seems ludicrous these days. They aren’t saying a word to each other. Both of their heads are down, fingers are typing away, and eyes are glued to their screens. Occasionally, one of them will look up to share a few words on whatever they read or show a picture they found. None of their conversations have been about anything other than what is on their phone.
This doesn't just happen when people go out to eat either, I see it everywhere— the beach, concerts, movie theaters, or in class. How are we even soaking up any information or taking in anything that is in front of us? What was the point of even leaving the house if we are just going to be checking up on social media the whole time (the same thing we were already doing at home)? It’s impossible to get the full effect of the life around us when our minds are always in a different place than our bodies.
I’m not suggesting completely putting down technology or social media— I’m a big social media fan myself. However, I am saying there is a time and place for everything. When you're surrounded by friends or family, it’s just not the time. Since when is ‘liking’ someone's latest Instagram picture more important than showing that you like the company of those at dinner with you? Whatever is happening in the social media world will still be there later; and don't worry Twitter will be sure to show you exactly what you missed, courtesy of the "While you were away" feature.
People are so concerned with how many ‘followers’ and ‘likes’ they can get, but does any of that actually matter? In a few years no one will even use Instagram just like they don't use MySpace, let alone remember what you posted or how many ‘likes’ you got. But you’ll never get back all of the time wasted obsessing over it. You’ll never get back all of the conversations and experiences you missed because you were too busy scrolling through your newsfeed and picking the perfect filter.
I get it—social media is interesting, but how are you going to enjoy your life while constantly watching the lives of others through Snapchat or Instagram? I’m just as guilty of this as anyone, but if we all take the time to live in the moment, without our phones attached to our hand, we’ll get so much more out of life.
Leave your phone in the car, use the ‘friendship stack,’ or turn it off. Honestly it doesn't matter how you do it, but it needs to be done. Ironically, the second you become immersed in social media, you become anti-social to everyone around you. So, instead of liking the selfie on our screens, how about we appreciate the life-size selfies in front of us?
