In today’s world it is hard to determine what is real and what is not. We are bombarded by images on television and social media that have been altered in some way but presented as being authentic and real. The term fake news, though made popular by US President Trump, has taken on new significance as there are in fact a growing number of seemingly real media outlets worldwide that earn profit by peddling false, mostly sensational, information. Deciphering truth from fiction in the written word, or even what is fake from what is authentic in photographs, now requires detective type investigation. When you add to this the growing trend of body enhancements, or what I would call fake body-parts, things start to get ridiculously confusing.
The world seems to be obsessed with image. More important than spending time with your family and interacting with friends, seems to be how many Facebook friends you can accumulate, how many likes your pictures on Instagram can attract, and what people (who don’t even know you) think of you. I witnessed the other day a toddler and his mom and dad walk into a restaurant. The toddler called his mom over and over, but his mom paid him no attention whatsoever. Instead, she held her phone high in the air while she turned her face, fixed her hair and puckered her lips to get the best angle for her selfie. For several minutes she worked on getting her photo right and paid no attention to the child, except for a brief moment when she pulled him into the picture, along with his dad, for a ‘happy’ family photo. Once that was accomplished, the toddler went on calling her while she ignored him and busied herself with her phone.
The sad thing is that social media obsession, for many persons, is getting in the way of building meaningful relationships with the people who should truly matter. While social media posts may get persons the attention they crave — from people they hardly know — the picture they paint of themselves is hardly ever real. Mostly, we get a snapshot of their seemingly perfect lives but never the full story. They use their posts to create an image of themselves that they want the world to believe exists. Some people need this for validation, but it is unhealthy.
What was intended as a platform for social interaction has turned into a race for attention, a competition for who has the best life, idea, children, social cause and the list goes on. While there are many positive uses of social media, it has sadly become a breeding ground for feelings of envy, inadequacy and low self-worth for those who do not have a large following, or who believe all the hype posted by others. This, coupled with the reality that an increased presence on social media results in a corresponding decrease in face to face human interaction, is troubling. Social media is a tool and should never have such prominence in our lives — and take up so much of our time — that we become slaves to it to the detriment of other things. If both parents and children are absorbed with social media, when is there time for bonding, teaching the importance of family, imparting morals and values? How are social skills being taught: how to get along with others, how to demonstrate kindness and compassion, how to communicate orally? When are children taught to be less self-absorbed and to be of service to others in the community?
Perhaps if we took our eyes off the screen for a moment, we would recognize that our time is better invested in building strong families and friendships the old-fashioned way. How much more meaningful our lives would be if, rather than focusing on taking selfies, our focus was on building better communities.
