I see a huge and growing number of folks who are disconnected from life. They need to report to the computer what they are doing almost minute by minute, complete with photographs. I am not referring to the simple one special moment in a day or a photograph of an unusual or very incredible event, but day to day living. What they had for breakfast, where they are at 10 am, where they are shopping and for what and everything, every post, has a picture, many of them selfies. The friends list is huge, yet they actually have never met most of those people. That is what I think is seriously wrong.
What happened to the real socializing, the evening playing cards with friends without the phone by your side and the urgent need to check and see if there is a message from some one far away that you don't even know? What happened to stopping for coffee and sitting in a shop, taking a 15 minute break from the bustle of driving in the city and the traffic and business of life? Who goes into a shop and sits there anymore? That is one of my favourite memories as a teenager. A group of us used to skip classes and spend an hour or two at the Drift Inn Cafe on Johnston Street drinking coffee. I don't know how they put up with us! Of course, we were respectful, however; we did occupy space that real paying customers who would possibly order food would take. Anyhow, those days seem to be gone and the sad part is that the kids growing up today won't even know they existed.
But I do.
And so, it is timely that Facebook is becoming a conglomerate and using people now. It gives me the incentive to leave. I have been weaning myself from it for weeks now, instead going back to making things in the evenings and reading more, not on the computer, but from a real book. The blog will continue though and I hope you will stay with me as I journey onward. My venture here in nowhere land on a 160 acres of paradise is a saga of inspiring and challenging events about to unfold. There is no time to be lonely here. I am excited to begin the projects and watch them come to fruition and completion and will keep you posted of the successes and heart breaks.
One thing though. I hope you will consider doing the same, that is, divorcing yourself from consumerism, the need to shop and the need to perform and the need to impress and just be yourself, wherever you are. It is freeing and enlightening at the same time. Ahhhh.