The world’s population is at 7 billion! Think about that for a minute! 7 BILLION human beings inhabit this planet called Earth. 7 billion souls with 7 billion stories to tell and we hardly ever hear most of them! I hate to say this, but the majority of us seem to fall through the cracks so to speak.
The world knows about the leaders, the innovators, the superstars, sportsmen and such other famous people! We may follow their lives, their actions, their stories with apt attention but what about the common man? What about the everyday people we meet? Do we care as much about our neighbours, our work colleagues, our friends? Do we pay attention to their stories? They also have stories to tell! You can bet on that! Only their stories are not heard as they are not ‘famous’, not that important!
We seem to spend the majority of our time on our phones and tabs and even when in social situations you’ll find most people typing away. They are surrounded by people and yet choose to speak to someone, somewhere else! How do we even reconcile that? How does that make sense?
I guess what I’m trying to say is this, the development of technology has improved life in many ways! Social media and other forms of instant communication have made it easier for us to communicate with people across the globe and make new friends and keep in touch with family who live elsewhere. It has allowed us to share ideas and grow closer as a world! That is an amazing thing!! It’s a good thing! We need to be closer as human beings, we need to understand each other, we need to connect and help each other across the globe!
What I have a problem with is how most human beings have taken this form of communication as a replacement for actual interactions with each other! I know, it is much cheaper to send messages through social media or some form of chat app! It’s much quicker, much more efficient and all that! Honestly though, it’s not that real in my opinion either! There is something a lot more satisfying about a face-to-face conversation, a phone call, a letter sent by post, even a text message, that is personal and makes you feel connected to the person on the other side of that like no message through social media or chat app can!
All this virtual communication as far as I can tell have created a generation of human beings with bent heads, busy fingers and glasses! We seem to exist in a bubble created by the phones or tabs or computers we use! This bubble excludes us from our immediate surroundings and people and keep us connected to people and environments elsewhere we cannot see! In essence, we all walk around ignoring each other!
What would happen if we put our phones away for an hour of our day and actually noticed what was around us?? We might finally notice the beauty of being alive, the beauty of the world. We may find that we can make a new friend! That we can help or encourage someone who may have really needed the personal attention. We may realise that we feel alone, even with all the chatter and then we might come to understand that what we really need is the personal connections we get when we are around each other! Really around each other!
Also another problem I have noticed is the lack of awareness of other people we seem to have! We are connected to each other through the internet and all sorts of social media and information is always available online on almost anything, but I am shocked to see that most people are still quite ignorant about the world as a whole! That’s another short-coming of virtual living as I like to call it, we have our own little circles and worlds and we hardly stray or even bother to learn about others on the outside! How can we not know much more about the world? How can we choose to be so ignorant and not be upset by it?
My time off social media has allowed me to connect more with the actual people around me! It has brought to my attention that I have missed a lot! Especially with my family. The only thing I wish was that my friends were doing this “no social media” with me! I feel quite alone when all of them are always staring at their phones and typing away! I guess I noticed what was always in front of me! But since I had my eyes glued to a screen I missed it!
What are your views? Do you agree with me or disagree? I’d love to hear what you think!
1uniqueteen
February 25, 2013 at 7:47 PM
Agree! Doing it with you girl! Love ya:)
wonderingsoul21
February 26, 2013 at 5:32 AM
Love ya too!!
Elton Fletcher
February 26, 2013 at 9:17 AM
We are the generation of “Scrolling Down” like i always say. Scroll down the page to poke him/her, scroll down retweet.
I once took a bus ride to the capital lilongwe in Malawi and was shocked to hear; notice all these dialects of language i have never heard before and all because my phone was off. So i do agree, we need to start noticing our world around us.