I’m sporting my favorite Wonder Woman pajamas, tucked snuggly beneath my fleece Jack Skellington snuggy. I mean blanket. It’s a blanket. Okay, okay. It’s a snuggy. A cup of hot coffee is planted on the nightstand with cream and honey, of course. I’m munching on my breakfast toast smothered in blackberry jam. My computer is resting in my lap with HBOgo open.
“Oh, he really didn’t just kill that little boy, did he!?” I think to myself.
One more episode of Game of Thrones to see what happens to the poor, unsuspecting characters.
Thirteen hours later, midnight approaches and my eyelids are drooping. “Must stay awake. One more episode. Just one more,” I keep telling myself.
This scenario sounds familiar, right?
The truth is we tend to spend hours either binge watching on Netflix, or scrolling through social media making sure we don’t miss what others post each second of the day.
But how fulfilling or rewarding is this? I waste countless hours, neglecting things that need attention, and I haven’t accomplished anything.
The article below inspired this blog, as it echoed how I’ve been feeling. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/lets-blow-your-quarter-life-crisis
Lately, I have found myself watching Netflix just for the sake of watching something and not really finding any sort of stimulation afterward. When I am really absorbed into a show or movie, I escape the world from recent stressors. The ones I find the most engaging often inspire my creativity or challenge my way of thinking. However, if I’m watching something just to merely pass up time without peaking any interests, I feel unfulfilled and sort of self-loathing that I didn’t spend precious time doing something more productive.
I could have and should have been using the time to educate myself on something new, read more books, make more art, spend time with love ones, and a whole plethora of other things this world has to offer.
The article above basically says everything we do, whether we are out with friends, working, or looking for a job, is an adventure. The article also states, “When we get stuck, we lose sight of the places we’re in and the people we’re in them with. We get distracted and miss out on so many amazing things that are happening all around us. “
So if life is an adventure do we really want to spend all of our waking hours on Netflix or Facebook? That particular bit of the article really resonated with me. If this was my last day on earth, I would at least want to spend it doing something more creative and exploring what God has given around us.
I’m just as guilty as the next guy to surf through the endless posts on Facebook and binge watch shows on Netflix, but at the end of the day I am feeding a habit that I need to break. I am starting to feel stuck and losing sight of what’s around me. Sure, sometimes it’s satisfying to curl up in bed and watch movies all day or see what friends across the country are up to, but there has to be a healthy level of balance.
I have found that being glued to social media has caused the opposite of what it is intended for. Instead of making it easier for people to keep in touch with others all around the world, it has caused people to distance themselves from those in the present moment. Many people are becoming socially inept and struggle with communicating face to face because they are so used to hiding behind a screen. It’s much safer to flirt or even troll behind a screen because people don’t have to see you or others deal with rejection.
On the other end of that, technology is also distracting people from time spent visiting with their friends. How many of us can enjoy a whole dinner without picking up our cell phones to check a text or scroll through Instagram?
I was recently having dinner with some friends, laughing, and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company. I kept looking over to the table beside us that sat two early twenty-something males. The entire duration of their meal, they were on their phones. Even before the food was out, they were sitting in silence staring off into the black mirror. It was just so… sad. It’s terrible that these two friends can’t sit there and enjoy each other’s company like I was with my friends without the aid of their phones.
This is the unfortunate truth of our society. We are too busy engaging in our phones or computers to stop and smell the roses around us. Facebook can wait. Netflix can wait. People can’t, though. You never know when your last moment is spent with someone. We need to enjoy the time we do have with them.
Perhaps many of us do feel stuck and have lost sight of what’s around us. However, hiding behind a screen isn’t stimulating any of our senses. We need to see, touch, smell, and hear all of life’s treasures. We need to create more beautiful things and experience more around us. Time spent with loved ones is precious. It’s all about making memories.
Life is an incredible adventure. Let’s put down our phones and go exploring and engaging together.
The Adventures of the Baroness 