Social media has become a poor substitute for real interaction

I watched the Adam Sandler move “Click” with my family recently and the concept was so fascinating and applicable to our times today. In “Click,” Sandler gets a “Universal” (magic) Remote Control that he can use to “mute” his sister-in-law, fast-forward boring things, pause his life, etc... and only he sees what happened.

In the movie, he has a little fun at first, and then ruins his life because he fast-forwards too much, and misses so much that he alienates everyone around him. It really got me thinking about how social media and smart phones do the same thing.

Instead of “being” with the actual real people right around us, we can “fast-forward” to “hang out” with other people on Facebook or whatever other social media outlet you have. The truth is that there is VERY LITTLE “socializing” in social media. You will spend your time interacting with people who are not “there” and then look back and realize in the entire day, week, month, year you actually hung out with nobody!

Social media has allowed everyone to skip the real moments of life by always doing something else instead of doing what you’re actually doing! We all know the nerd in his basement who interacts with nobody, while on his computer he interacts with the whole world.

We see it when teens do it. But adults do it just as much. Don’t let your kids waste their lives and don’t waste your own. Live actual life well! — Darrel Sipes, Tehachapi