RECONNECTING

RECONNECTING

Written by: Lester Janz F. Dela Cruz

In this century, technology has really bloomed and has been a part of the daily lives of people. It is amazing that everything is within the tip of your finger and ready to load in an instant. With the rise of social media, connecting with each other and meeting other people from all around the globe has never been this easy. But through all this time, have we really been connected with each other?

I had this moment last year where I got really exhausted with social media – seeing the highlight reels of people on Facebook makes me anxious about when I am going to have moments like those makes me feel anxious about life in general. During this moment, I have stumbled upon Cal Newport’s Ted Talk, where he talked about quitting social media. After watching the video I grabbed my phone, deactivated my Facebook account and uninstalled the application.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Personally, I am the type of person who does not care that much about Facebook so it was quite easy for me to deactivate my account. I only use the site whenever I really have nothing to do (i.e. tired of watching anime and playing video games). I only use it during my most idle times and also for checking out the posts of our professors on Facebook group pages.

It seems that social media makes communication easier, but I somehow still feel disconnected because I rarely get messages from people who genuinely wants to talk to me and not just because they need to ask me for a favor.

Back then I had a feeling to constantly check my Facebook account because I might miss something important and that they people do not have any other ways to contact me other than Facebook. But, as time passes by, I definitely felt more comfortable. The feeling of compulsively checking your phone when notifications pop up is gone and that definitely help me cleared my mind from distraction. I had more room to stay calm and breath.

I Learned Lessons

In a world full of ads, notifications, and distractions, it is hard to stay focused and pour an undivided attention into something in front of you. According on a study conducted by Canadian Researchers in 2015 – The attention span that humans have dropped from 12 seconds (2000) to eight seconds. The study also showed that 77% of the respondents on the age bracket of 18-24 answered yes on the question, “When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone.”

I myself experience difficulties trying to keep my attention on a single task, I always tend to be distracted especially when using the Internet for studying. There is always this feeling of clicking a new tab and asking google whatever stuff pops into your mind. I find the study reflective on what is happening on real life, people tend to reach out to their phone first when nothing occupies their attention.

People nowadays are scared to be alone probably because they want to escape from their own thoughts. So, instead of reflecting upon themselves and finding solutions – they run away from it by staring and scrolling on a piece of electronic glass to keep their minds occupied and escape from the reveries. Just like how I did.

Taking Facebook out of my life helped me a lot. I managed to face my thoughts that have been haunting me for a long time. I had more time to assess myself, think about the future and talk to myself more (I really love talking to myself whenever I am alone or I have nothing to do, one might think I’m crazy but it definitely helps me alleviate stress of to reduce the amount of load that’s on my head). I learned to value my life more and give love to myself, which I might not have any meaning in life now or maybe I’m on a directionless path, but someday I’ll be on the right track. I also had more room for realizations, I thought to myself that Facebook messages are nothing, what matters is talking to people that is in front of you, where you can hear their voice, their laugh, their touch, and see their smile. I learned to reconnect once again to the world and value human contact and connection much more.

The thing that I loved the most is figuring out other things to do where I could exercise my mind and be productive, I explored other activities that would be helpful for me and expand my knowledge such as reading journals, news articles, participating in online intellectual discussions, listening to the piano while in reverie (I love doing this) and watching inspirational speeches and TedX talks. I also learned how to stay focused on a certain activity in order to finish tasks faster and have more time for myself. And I definitely had more disciplined when it comes to deciding what to do on my free time.

Hoping for a Better Humanity

One might say, why am I writing about this? Do I really need to deactivate my Facebook account just to realize those things? Or maybe I’m just having mental issues and lost in life. Well, we all are different but I recommend doing so because it is a different experience for all of us, you might get different lessons from what I have experienced, but I believe that those will intersect.

I want people to realize that there is more to life, than just staring at a piece of glass, swiping left or right and scrolling down the news feed. There is so much to life! Go out there, meet other people, have a nice talk, take a good walk or go out on an adventure! I want a world where humans interact with each other intimately and value human contact and I believe that we can do so.

Right now, I’m back to using Facebook due to some applications that I’m applying into, but I’m planning to deactivate it once again because I feel like my habits of treating myself poorly and thinking bad about myself is returning or maybe I just need to unfollow people and discipline myself once again.

Living life is hard but I think we could handle it. Just remember that we are not alone in this world and there are more lessons and values to learn so we must be strong!