So I checked out this video the other day on my Facebook-wall (which apparently I shouldn’t have, or should I? 😉 ) about the digital era. It is a very cool hip hoppy spoken word poetic kinda vid with the likes of Prince EA, who does an amazing job at telling us how we should not be so busy with our phones and ourselves, but more with other people and the real life.

The reason I got attracted to this video so much is that a friend of mine that I really appreciate put it on his Facebook (and he does not Facebook that often) and that it is hip hoppy way of telling people things, which is awesome. Is it a bit too much? I think it is, I doubt the numbers are all correct, but of course he makes a very valid point. It is something I have been thinking about for a long time too.

Not specifically because I think our youth is going to waste with people like Kim K that are being so popular, but is it really good for us? My boyfriend told me a few weeks ago that Australian researchers found that Wi-Fi could be causing brain issues or cancer or other horrible things. And of course, there is always a bad side to everything, and you will never really find out what is really true, but looking at the medical issues many people deal with these days, I am not sure if we can link them all to not going to the gym enough and/or having a bad diet.

And also I look at my own media consumption through phones, television, internet and everything, and I think: how much time a day do I spend on there and what does it really get me? This evening I have spend 30 minutes doing nothing, just scrolling through Instagram, scrolling through Facebook, thinking I am being so social for commenting on someone else’s Facebook post. It is just weird how we feel like we are connecting, but it is all so forgettable at the same time.

It is hard, because on the one hand I would not want to stop using my phone, my social networks, my laptop, my Wi-Fi et cetera, but on the other I know that it is not entirely good for me either. My shoulders are always tense, my general state of mind is leaning more towards the stressy side than the relaxed one and I get into fights with my boyfriend because we cannot stand each others social media behavior. I think it is not done to check your social media when you are sitting in a restaurant, he thinks I should not do it when watching a movie. I mean, both are pretty valid points, but we both still go on with it.

He thinks followers are very important, he even compares his followers to the amount his colleagues have. But that is a general thing for him, he thinks having a lot of responses to a blog post are very important, whereas I can be extremely happy with just one meaningful response. But I guess that’s the thing with ‘fame’ or ‘popularity’, you always want more and he is simply used to getting a lot of responses. His website consists out of thousands of views a month, I am happy if I have more than 5 visitors a day 😉

But, to get back to the whole are-we-too-obsessed-with-our-phones thing, I totally agree with him. I notice how much I enjoy cuddling with my boyfriend, over making fun of him on the internet 😉 But seriously, connecting to people in real life, is so much more meaningful. Sure, social media are important too, and I will still use them, but I tend to keep my phone in my purse for almost a day on Sundays, because I just feel like relaxing and for some reason, my phone makes me anti relaxed more often than relaxed.

The thing my boyfriend and I have is that we are both journalists, which means we tend to be online/typing/doing social media a lot more than the average person. That is also the reason I find it hard to put it aside, because to me typing is like breathing. 😉 Plus, I do enjoy checking out Instagram, I love watching cat vids on Facebook and there are lots of chicks that make me laugh with their awesome status updates. But as Prince EA says, are we enjoying the view, or are we enjoying the thought of putting our view on Instagram?

What do you think, is your phone and social media behavior okay? And how do you feel about the people around you?