With every status you post, you wait to see how many “Likes” you can get. Seconds feel like minutes, and than you notice you’ve been staring at a computer screen for 10 minutes, waiting on a thumb’s up to justify a sentence you decided to write. Technology has sucked you in, and this is your time to take a break. I say this, knowing from personal experience, that even though the tech around us can help in many situations, it can wreck you too. That’s why it’s good to be on the lookout of signs that are clearly saying, “Back away from the gadget, stat!” Some of those signs have nicely been pointed out by blogger Nicole Fabian-Weber, and could come in handy (especially when a moment of denial hits):
1. Social media makes us envious. In case you’ve never happened upon one of the nine billion studies that have been done, let me enlighten you: It’s been proven over and over again that Facebook and Twitter and Instagram make us jealous over other people’s awesome lives. Who needs that? (And most of it’s a lie, anyway.)
2. Our eyes become donuts around our smartphones: Glazed. The next time you’re out in public, I want you to do me a favor and take a good, hard look around. What do you see? If you see happy people talking and interacting with one another, please, take me to your leader. Odds are, everyone around is looking down at their phones, ignoring the real world around them.
3. We’re living for social media. Admit it: You’ve been in the middle of a fantastic moment and thought, “Gosh, this sure would look great on Facebook or Instagram.” It takes away from the awesomeness that’s going on.
4. We let people’s “likes” and comments get us down. Whether you post something to Facebook and it gets no love or someone tells you you’re the “worst writer in the world” in the comments section of a blog (hypothetically speaking), it affects you.
5. We’re constantly distracted. Even when we aren’t expecting a text or a phone call or an email, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we are. In the old days, when we went on vacation, we left our phones and laptops at home. Now they come with us like another member of the family. It’s hard to fully relax with that feeling.
6. We have to be camera-ready 24/7. Long gone are the days when we could go to sleep at night without applying self-tanner and a pair of false eyelashes. These days, what with everyone posting everything to Facebook, you never know when you’re going to wind up on the Internet.
7. It’s hard to be incommunicado.Years ago, if you went a few days without returning someone’s call, it was no biggie. People had lives, and the way we got messages was via answering machine, or if you were high-falutin’, caller ID. Now if you don’t respond to a voicemail, you get a text. And if you don’t respond to a text, a search party is sent out for you. A little peace would be nice.
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