It seems the world I live in is too afraid to share lives with another human being. Too afraid to let someone in, to see all the good and bad they are. Afraid to trust, to let go, to be bold, to love.
We send out tweets about how our dog is our only soulmate, we create memes to joke about our loneliness, we listen to music by artists we feel share the same struggle of missing that connection with somebody else. If we’re all retweeting, sharing, streaming the same content about feeling lonely, why don’t we do anything about it?
Why are we avoiding eye contact with beautiful strangers whom we pass in hallways? Why do we go online and stare at our phones when we feel uncomfortable with the outside world? Why do we simply “like” a picture on social media to suggest to our crush that we’re interested? Why do we pretend to not see someone we know in Target and avoid them completely, acting as if they’re a stranger?
I want to have a real conversation with someone; not because we’re in the same class or interested in the same study but because we share the same beliefs and values.
I want laughter to bolt out of my mouth just as quickly as lightning bolts across the sky on a hot summer night.
I want eye contact to become something that is not feared among individuals, but something that’s as common as making eye contact into your phone's front facing camera to create that perfect selfie.
In a technology-driven world, it gets hard to make those personal connections.
All of a sudden, we started caring too much about what others thought of us and stopped taking risks. We started to become sheltered by our trusty iPhones. We send out texts saying “ I’m fine!” when really we’re curled up in bed. We send out laughing emojis to make conversations seem less awkward and use filters in our pictures to make the reality seem better than what it actually is.
Why don’t we speak our truth? What’s holding us back?
Why is it that when I sit down at a restaurant, I see friends and couples, parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles looking down at Facebook instead of looking at the person right in front of them?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely thankful for modern technology. It helps me keep track of my schedule and sends me important reminders, communicate with loved ones who live far away, capture memories at the blink of an eye, quickly download and listen to all of my favorite songs, and, probably most importantly, it helps my sister manage her type one diabetes.
While technology offers a multitude of benefits, we often get carried away by the wide web. We spend all of our vacation days posing in front of beaches, mountains and amazing views instead of taking a moment to appreciate and live in the moment.
I want to be able to cherish all the memories and moments with loved ones. I want to be able to remember what the air smelled like when I landed in Orlando to visit family, how my friends face lit up the whole room when we surprised her with a birthday party, or how freezing I felt swimming in the Pacific Ocean.
The visuals we see can easily be stored in our phone’s memory, but how we felt in those moments can never be stored anywhere else but within us. An easy way to store emotions is by practicing mindfulness to stay present.
It is okay to engage in technology, but also be technologically conscious, put your phone down, and unplug even if it is just for five minutes.
Look around you and take in everything you see in sharp detail, focus on your ever present and steady breath, and become aware of the clouds hanging in the sky. Close your eyes and tilt your head at the sun, feel the heat beating on your face. Hear all the sounds around you; the birds chirping and the cars buzzing by. Breathe in the air around you and remember: you’re never going to have a moment just like this again.
There’s more to life than memes, The Golden Hour, and endless streaming. There’s laughter, joy, and love that can only be truly shared in one way: putting the phone down and sharing life with each other.
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