Electronics run our life

Its been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog.  But I wanted to post a thought provoking post today.  So here it is:

Why do we let electronics run our life?

I am sitting here at a computer, with my iphone and ipad close, My TV is currently off, but usually I have it on. The majority of my connection with anyone outside this house is through Facebook.  I enjoy seeing their pictures, reading their posts, reading comments, collaborating in groups, I enjoy it. But why is it so important to me that I see everything posted all the time.

Why do I feel the need to always have the TV on? Often times it is for noise and nothing else, especially when the kids are in school. I'll watch the news occasionally,  but the TV is on so much in our home.

Our kids are getting sucked into electronics universe: computer games, Ipod games, tv, wii..all these 'activities' that keep them staring at a screen instead of actually interacting with those around them. When I was little we played outside, ALL the time. the first questions out of my kids mouths pertain to what electronics they are going to play that day. MInecraft, Wii, IPod... Its all they ever think about.

Electronics Run Our Lives. 

I am not saying I want to cut out electronics all together. That is not my point. There are great wonderful things about electronics.  But maybe it is time to take a step back and remember that we have real people in our lives. People who we love and care about. Friends who would love to get together if we would just put down the ipad long enough to make that connection.

Facebook has done great things.  It has connected me with people I knew growing up in Chicago, going to high school in Vegas, and college in Utah.  I have lived many places and known many people. I now know people all over the word. I have friends and family in South Africa, Germany, China, all over the US. My friends map would have people from many different places and I LOVE that!  I would not be able to connect with most of these people had I not gotten on to FB.

That being said, I think, and this is my personal opinion, that we are too easy to share things sometimes and sometimes we don't think of who might be reading.  I am overly guilty of this myself. I posted something and it offended the wrong people. The problem is that I knew when posting it that I shouldn't post it, and I didn't listen to that inner conscience telling me to not click post and leave the topic alone.  I posted it anyway and offended people, offended the wrong people. Not that any people offended are the right ones, but those I offended were people close to me.

I understand people have positions on things and FB Is a great way to share those positions. But controversial topics are starting to kill friendships over FB. 'I can't be your friend because you have this position on this topic and now I can't stand by you.' (No i didn't get that response from anyone but it is something that can happen.)

There was a time when I wouldn't make any post that was even remotely controversial.  I would type it up, debate about posting it, and then delete it. I felt better having typed it up and 'gotten it out there' but I didn't have to deal with the backlash that came along with it. I liked myself better then.

I have decided to go back to that person. Back to a time when I cared who I offended and cared what people knew about me.  Back to a time when I didn't post about politics, religion, controversy. Back to a time when I posted cute pictures of my kids, commented on fun things we did that day, and offered service to others in my life.  Yes FB can be a great platform to share your thoughts and feelings on a topic, but so can a blog. So from now on, if you are my friend on FB, you will (after a little FB Cleanse week) see posts from me about my family and I. But I will not be joining in on ANY controversial topics. Please understand that I welcome your thoughts. I will likely read them, and mull over the topics. But I will not be commenting.

My friendship with you is more important to me than whether we agree or disagree on any given topic.  So forgive my non-position on things.  I'd rather be your friend.

I'll see you back on FB in a week...as a new or renewed me!

I hope you love me no matter what...