Are You Living Someone Else’s Life?
One of my students said she hadn’t gotten much sleep during the night; finishing up with, “I find myself looking at Snapchat and Facebook late into the night. It’s like I am living someone else’s life, not my own.” Yikes! This is a problem.
People do this all the time. Walk by a restaurant with outside seating and look at the patrons. Doubtless you will find a table where all four people are on their cell phones, likely checking their Facebook feed. Ack! This is just sickening. It makes me ill when I need to text for work or address something urgent when I am in the presence of someone else with whom I should otherwise be engaging.
Click here for more of the above info-graphic about social media from Social Media Today and Mediakix. Here are some startling statistics presented by Social Media Today:
Teens now spend up to nine hours a day on social platforms.
The average person will spend nearly two hours (approximately 116 minutes) on social media everyday, which translates to a total of 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime.
The Opposite of Yoga
We need to disengage more often from social media and the constant stream of information that is available to us. In yoga, our goal is to unify the body, mind, and spirit. In fact, by definition yoga means union or connection, according to bigshakti.com. We begin each session by pulling our energy into ourselves and grounding it into the earth. The opposite of this is looking at other people’s lives through their Facebook feed or Instagram page. When we look outside of ourselves for information it sends our energy outward. No problem, when we are in need of information that we do not have. However, often it is essential to look inside ourselves for the answers we seek. We have the answers but need to tune in to our inner voice for our answers.
Generate Authentic Content
True happiness and authenticity comes from turning inward and listening to our own voice, ideas, desires. As we grow up, we learn, learn, learn from others. At some point, we need to put it in our own words, have our own ideas, set out on our own path and generate our personal content. Remember how hard it was as a student when the teacher said, “Put it into your own words.” That was not easy for me. I didn’t have my own words at the time because I did not understand the material well enough. As we grow up, this becomes easier.
We need to weed through the information we have been given and make a decision about what rings true for us individually. By constantly seeking input through TV, media, social media, we spend little time owning information—we are only SEEKING it.
In my entrepreneurship classes, students have a tough time at first. They are so used to in-taking and regurgitating information, repeating back what they have learned for tests and class projects. They are not in the habit of digging deep inside themselves for THEIR OWN ANSWERS. It takes a while for the students to get into the flow of developing a business, not based on something they have to do for a class project but one based on what they want to do with their own lives, exactly like they have in their mind and heart. Eventually, they are masters at it and we have great results. This requires a different part of the brain, the creative center.
Life Long Learning
Being a life-long learner is a wonderful thing. My favorite people tend to gobble up information with a vengeance, constantly learning something new. In fact, with Youtube, podcasts, eBooks and Audible, we could be learning by listening and watching something all the time, even when we go for our morning walk, drive to work, garden, clean house or hike. The only problem with this is that we miss out on the lovely sounds of nature, the quiet mind, our own thoughts, conversations with spouses and family members, the sounds of kids playing (Ok, or fighting) in the house. I walk by people often who cannot hear my, “Good morning!” because they are all plugged up/plugged in to their device.
None of it is inherently wrong. I listen to videos non-stop when I am sewing garments samples for Beckons. Our family listens to books on tape (aka Audible) when we go on road trips. I regularly visit my guru’s, Mike Dooley, Rob Bell, Doreen Virtue, Matt Khan, Kyle Cease, websites to hear what they have to say. Hooray for the Internet! We are so fortunate to have so much information.
Today, I am asking that you / me / we use a bit less of it. Use it when you need information. Take a day off each week. Refrain from looking through your Facebook feed especially when other people are around. We lived for centuries without knowing everyone’s business. Being virtually enmeshed in everyone else’s lives can lead us to feeling unhappy ourselves. We are having less fun, going fewer places, not near as interesting as they are.
My greatest issue is with looking through Facebook and Instagram feeds when you could otherwise engage in conversation. When you are in the presence of others, namely people you love and who love you, put the darn thing away. Save the feed peering for when you are waiting for an appointment to begin or friends to show up at a restaurant. Instead, look up, talk to the person you are with, see the gorgeous sunset, participate in your own life rather than peeking into someone else’s. Engage and LIVE.
Do you have any guidelines you use to limit your social media use? I want to know.
