Cyber Social Butterfly, Real World Hermit

Cyber Social Butterfly, Real World Hermit

I have realized how much of a hermit I am. I don't feel bad about it, I feel pretty good actually. I know I should not be proud of it but somehow today's society kind of pushes you into it. With people staring at their phones and a vast necessity to "share" their life in the WWW, people just forget about other people. How many times have you looked at your phone while having a face to face conversation with someone? It's so hard not to look!

During this week, specially with the class of Psychology and Media that I'm taking this summer, I have become more aware of the hermit syndrome I have  and of those around me.
Whenever I feel lonely or in an awkward situation I will just stare at my phone and scape. The social media world is like the perfect button that people have craved since ancient times, you can remove yourself from uncomfortable reunions, conversations, even uncomfortable feelings, it's just beautiful and harmful at the same time.

Right now it doesn't seem harmful at all, social media and technological devices allow you to connect with loved ones. Such devices are of great aid when in need; like if you need a flash light, directions, weather conditions, it has a dictionary, tutorials, ideas even games. It's beautiful! But oh so bad for yourself. There's this TED Talk with Sherry Turkle, she talks about how we connect to isolate ourselves, we no longer know how to socialize and we are teaching our younger generations to scape from the feeling of loneliness. This las part makes me think of in order to taste the sweet you have to taste the bitter, I would like to see how we could taste company and the joy that brings from feeling comforted by others without knowing how to feel lonely. How could we know the difference? Would we just take it for granted? Or would we ever even feel companionship again??

So today, I decided to unplug just for a few hours. Now of course I am back at it typing this blog, but I tried and it was actually kind of nice. Hopefully you can try it too...


With love,

Linda