I received my first cell phone at the age of thirteen, upon starting my freshman year of high school. It was a standard Nokia, offering the bare minimum in practicality and innovation, but as strong as a brick. Only after a few years of suffering with such a basic platform was I allowed to upgrade by my parents to an Iphone. Additionally, I was introduced to Facebook my sophomore year of high school, back in 2007. In essence, social media has been as epic and emotional of a roller coaster ride as any relationship in the life of a teenager. The rapid rise of Facebook to stardom made way for the inevitable decline and doom of MySpace, the original pioneer of a social media page designed for people to find their friends and interact with another. Users have the possibility of posting videos, photos, and comments on each other "walls," and thus interact with an enormous user base. Facebook now has over 500 million active users, which is more than the population of the United States, and only rivalled by that of China and India.
In essence though, the constant innovation of social media has made people forget about the beauty of life before it. I'm not saying that social media is bad. Social media, if used properly, can do unbelievable things, whether joining people together to support an amazing cause, or by raising awareness for events and important news. However, many people fail to utilize social media and all of it's vast potential. Rather, these such people simply constantly post annoying things that fulfil no purpose except leaving one with a raging headache. As difficult as it may be to grasp, no cares if, "you realized how difficult a long distance relationship is after your boyfriend went away for a weekend." Bullshit, shenanigans, call it whatever you want. If Facebook had a data cap, these such people would be prioritized as number 1 to block. Such people, for lack of a better description, are the eccentric forms of "Facebook whores." They embody complete emptiness and only desire the attention of strangers to console them and ask, "what's wrong dear friend?" Such people are a redudant echo of annoyance and fail to grasp the purpose of social media. Social media, like I already mentioned, has the proclivity to create beauty in a world that can never overdose on too much of it. Whether it's reaching out to foundations determined to help victims of environmental disasters, or to raise awareness of those living in captivity or in nefarious conditions, social media will always do the job right. It is up to us though, to hunt down those opportunities that we can become a part of, instead of simply being yet another warm body. That being said, we should all get off our asses and get back into the real world, the very same world that has been before our eyes since we were born. Yes, technology has changed, and the world has adopted. Regardless, people are still the same, and everyone should exhibit and execute a willingness and devotion to living life the way it was meant to be lived--freely, without regrets, and actively. All of these aspects are impossible to attain if one spends the majority of his or her time on Facebook.
I may not speak for everyone, but I sure as hell miss my childhood--the 90's This amazing decade was home to Nick At Night, Windows 95', and the GameBoy (Color). It was a time of beauty, that no kids can ever understand in today's time. My childhood experience concerning technology was one that does not come close to today's time, but all the same was the best one a kid could ask for. Cell phones were unexistent in my life. Facebook was a distant dream. The outdoors was where you would go to meet friends and catch up on the things. It was Carpe Dium to the fullest. This, is exactly what should be brought back into the lives of today's youth, and older generations. Social media is not a substitute for living life to the fullest. It is almost as pointless as trying to bring world peace to the world by sitting on your ass all day watching TV. It just doesn't work. Thus, I implore you to look at life the same way I did, as well as million of other 90's kids, did growing up. Life was magical, almost surreal. Problems consisted of one's Gameboy running out of batteries. Now, that problem is practically unheard of, even if it does carry with itself the real purpose of life--embrace what you have, and live life the way it was meant to be live.
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