Lessons I'm learning from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest never seem to escape my wondering of how this affects us as a culture. I find it fascinating those times in history between the spurts of growth and change from one era into another. The 50's expressed conformity with perfectly coiffed hair, clean lined clothing, happy music and finishing schools for girls. But as the 60's rolled in nothing could be farther from that image. I can only imagine what their grandparents thought when they saw girls in pants, natural hair, and not shaving. The butterflies first burst from his cocoon.
As we move into a new millenium I see how we are in the middle of another burst of change. Our social lives now consist of tweeting and vlogging, blogging and posting, texting and pinning. We seem to know what's going on with everyone, even though we've may not even know everyone. At first this annoyed the hell out of me because I come from the generation of "hanging out" with people in parks, coffee shops and malls. But as I got used to reading the posts and blogs I started to connect with people I barely know off line. It’s the same effect as watching a tv show. We connect with the actors, or in all reality we're connecting with the character played by the actor, not the actor him/herself. So in essence these people you've never met before are all actors playing a roll on a screen. We connect with their kids, vacation photos, listen to their music links, watch their video's etc. We are very influenced by their posts.
A girl I met only a few times in real life posted regularly to Facebook, and I mean daily. She actually kind of annoyed me in the beginning because she reminded me of Reese Witherspoons character Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Every post was of her smiling, running a marathon, adorable pictures of her daughter and "Awesome super day!" posts. I noticed one day her posts were gone and that she no longer was on my friend list. Minutes after I inquired with a friend of hers, she immediately sent me a message apologizing for removing me along with a sough of others from her page. She didn't think "anyone would notice". Well hell, I noticed. Behind the smiley faces online was a conflict in real life we didn't know about. I realized that I had gotten used to seeing her daughter enjoy a sandwich in the park, trying on goofy glasses at the mall and most of all her "Awesome" posts. It reminded me that I was not in an "awesome" spirit where I should be and that is why her posts annoyed me.
I told her that I read all her posts and look forward to seeing her "It's a great day" words of encouragement and that we do notice when she is not there. "A little bit of sunshine goes a long way" I said.
This inspired me to share this with you. Our words, even as trivial as they seen on a screen are very powerful. They hold a sense of magic that can stir love, hate, fear and a myriad of emotions in our hearts. People are drawn to the light, the positive, and the happy ones. They inspire us, drive us, and keep us in a state of thought reminding us to keep moving forward.
Be mindful of your words, I'm reminded of this daily. I look at my own wall to see patterns. What am I posting? Are they mostly positive, motivating and encouraging? Are they complaining, criticizing or spreading fear? This is a good indicator of where your heart is. Believe me, people notice. Spread a little word of peace, you never know whose life you will change with a kind word.
Thank you Facebook friend for reminding me to "Have a happy Monday!"
As we move into a new millenium I see how we are in the middle of another burst of change. Our social lives now consist of tweeting and vlogging, blogging and posting, texting and pinning. We seem to know what's going on with everyone, even though we've may not even know everyone. At first this annoyed the hell out of me because I come from the generation of "hanging out" with people in parks, coffee shops and malls. But as I got used to reading the posts and blogs I started to connect with people I barely know off line. It’s the same effect as watching a tv show. We connect with the actors, or in all reality we're connecting with the character played by the actor, not the actor him/herself. So in essence these people you've never met before are all actors playing a roll on a screen. We connect with their kids, vacation photos, listen to their music links, watch their video's etc. We are very influenced by their posts.
A girl I met only a few times in real life posted regularly to Facebook, and I mean daily. She actually kind of annoyed me in the beginning because she reminded me of Reese Witherspoons character Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. Every post was of her smiling, running a marathon, adorable pictures of her daughter and "Awesome super day!" posts. I noticed one day her posts were gone and that she no longer was on my friend list. Minutes after I inquired with a friend of hers, she immediately sent me a message apologizing for removing me along with a sough of others from her page. She didn't think "anyone would notice". Well hell, I noticed. Behind the smiley faces online was a conflict in real life we didn't know about. I realized that I had gotten used to seeing her daughter enjoy a sandwich in the park, trying on goofy glasses at the mall and most of all her "Awesome" posts. It reminded me that I was not in an "awesome" spirit where I should be and that is why her posts annoyed me.
I told her that I read all her posts and look forward to seeing her "It's a great day" words of encouragement and that we do notice when she is not there. "A little bit of sunshine goes a long way" I said.
This inspired me to share this with you. Our words, even as trivial as they seen on a screen are very powerful. They hold a sense of magic that can stir love, hate, fear and a myriad of emotions in our hearts. People are drawn to the light, the positive, and the happy ones. They inspire us, drive us, and keep us in a state of thought reminding us to keep moving forward.
Be mindful of your words, I'm reminded of this daily. I look at my own wall to see patterns. What am I posting? Are they mostly positive, motivating and encouraging? Are they complaining, criticizing or spreading fear? This is a good indicator of where your heart is. Believe me, people notice. Spread a little word of peace, you never know whose life you will change with a kind word.
Thank you Facebook friend for reminding me to "Have a happy Monday!"
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