I Live For The Applause

I have come to realize recently how incredibly obsessed we are in this social-media-driven generation with being "liked." I put quotations around the word liked because we don't want to be liked by actual people that we actually interact with or do actual things with. Instead, we want people to view and admire (a.k.a. "like") the things we post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. We post our thoughts, our comings and goings, our ailments, our irritations, our achievements, the people we are hanging out with, the pictures and videos of our kids/families/friends, as well as pictures and videos of strangers who we wish we knew, as well as a myriad random thoughts, quotes, Bible verses, spiritual epithets, or ideologies, and even pictures and descriptions of the food we're eating for crying out loud! It is obvious that we have become a society full of people who want superficial admiration from every person they have ever known and consider to be their "friends" for every little thing we do throughout the day! We want so badly for people to "like" our posts and comment on how great our posts and pictures and videos are. As harsh as it may sound, I have to be honest that I simply don't care what you ate for dinner let alone want to see a picture of it on my newsfeed! I'd much rather get together with you and have a real cup of coffee with you and have an actual conversation rather than have to weed through hundreds of posts on my newsfeed before being able to finally come across a post with any substance to it. But I fear that the majority of the Facebook world finds their self-worth from how many people "like" and comment on their posts.

I honestly wish we could go back to the days where we hung out in person, spent time talking with each other (a life skill that sadly seems to be lacking in our youth today), and shared our thoughts & feelings with those closest to me in real life, rather than having so many superficial connections with people on Facebook. Don't get me wrong, I like being on Facebook and I am on it daily. But my primary use of Facebook is sharing pictures, statuses, and videos of my kids with my family who live far away in Lanesboro, MN and Austin, TX and Portland, OR along with my close friends who I wish I could see more often. Well, at least that is what I am telling myself as I write this blog post. Of course I am guilty of participating in the superficial aspects of Facebook, and have even craved people's "likes" and comments on things I have posted. And I am not saying I don't enjoy seeing the likes and comments. But I am starting to notice how unhealthy it is to post something with the purpose of accumulating likes and comments; checking every few minutes to see how many more "likes" and comments I have racked up. It becomes an obsession. And I'm not the only one who think so! Please take 5 minutes and read Tyler Gildin's post on Elite.Daily.com. I feel like he literally took the words right out of my mouth! This article Tyler wrote is seriously a MUST READ.

In thinking more about this phenomenon, I started to make a connection between the world we create for ourselves on Facebook world and The Sims computer/video games. As defined by Wikipedia, "The games in The Sims are largely sandbox games, in that they lack any defined goals. The player created virtual people called "Sims" and places them in houses and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires." Reading this definition of The Sims, I cannot help but notice how my Facebook newsfeed is becoming a real-life version of The Sims, lacking defined goals, placing people in my life as a way to monitor their moods and trying to satisfy each others' moods through a "like" or a comment.

I want to reiterate that I am not opposed to Facebook, nor am I saying I don't appreciate when people "like" or comment on my posts. But I will admit that I am taking a step back and from now on will be more conscious about what I post and less focused on how many people "like" or comment on the things I post. I want people to know me for me, not know me for the superficial things I post on Facebook. And in order to get to know me, or continue to know me, you need to spend real time with me in real life. So what d'ya say? If you like what you see about me on Facebook, just think of how great I am in real life. So ... let's hang out!