Alright, here it goes. My first blog post EVER! Although this blog is for an assignment, I’m excited for an outlet to express my thoughts and feelings about something that does so profoundly affect my life each day. Media definitely has its pros (I don’t know how I would get through school without it), but we can all agree that it can prevent us from creating and maintaining authentic relationships and experiences. We become so enraptured by our phones, laptops, and other electronic devices that we become completely unaware of what’s going on around us. Heck, I’ve even had media distract me from experiencing other media! For example, the other day I put a movie on the tv, got comfortable on the couch with my laptop in front of me, and then two hours later the movie was over and I didn’t pay attention to any of it. I don’t think I’m the only one that’s had that experience. So yeah, media can be distracting.
We can all think of these little experience when we’ve seen the negative effects of media, but I had an experience earlier this week that opened my eyes a little more to the severity of this issue. I was scrolling through facebook and I came to a post from one of my best friends. Her and I were roommates before our missions and we have remained close ever since. Although school keeps us busy and we don’t live together anymore, we still talk on a pretty regular basis. Her post was about her brother--how after a long hard journey he was finally able to leave on his mission. Her post was long and heart-felt, and it was clear that his departure was an exciting thing for her. It was an inspirational post, but instead of making me feel warm and fuzzy, her post just made me confused. I had never heard about this brother before. In fact, I didn’t even know this brother existed. I didn’t know anything! I wracked my brain trying to think of the times we’ve talking about her family, but I came up empty. There are only two explanations for this--either she told me and I don’t remember it, or she never told me about it except for this time on facebook. Both explanations left me disconcerted. I don’t think there is anything wrong with sharing about your life on facebook, but when it starts taking precedence over our real-life communication with friends and family, it becomes a problem. Then I wonder, what if she told me and I wasn’t paying attention? What if at the moment she told me my phone buzzed and my thoughts immediately turned to who was trying to reach me? What if I was half-heartedly listening while scrolling through my News feed? Bottom line, we can all be better at giving our full love and attention to the people in our lives that matter most.
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