There is a flood happening and I feel we all know it but don't take heed. It's not a flood of water, it's a flood of mass media. I have been thinking much lately as I have been on my phone a bit more while feeding a baby these past 9 months and how I feel after I'm on the media traps on there. Floods can be a blessing and/or a curse. In the matter of our media filled world, how do we choose to display ourselves and what do we choose to spend our time on? I know that when I choose to just update our family blog or go in to make a kind comment to friend or family I feel much better about my use of time then endless scrolling the feeds of others "famed" lives. But I to get caught in the flood and find that afterwards I feel like my self esteem lacks just a little bit more. Thoughts can creep in like; I'm not a good enough wife or mom, I am a housekeeping disaster, I can't travel the world, I'm not beautiful, the list can go on and on with how media can twist your thoughts and the reality of life. Or, it can be a fun and exciting time to catch up and be excited about the happiness and explorations of friends and family which I love! It is wonderful to see how dear people are doing. However, how much of your time is spent in that "catching up" that isn't face to face? The result of getting flooded over with mass media can either eat away at your self or your time.
As I roamed the endless Facebook feed one early...late...hour I shouldn't be up but was tending the needs of a teething little one I saw a great post by a friend. She had put up some "real" family photos. The ones where your hair blows over your kids face, or your two year olds screaming or you are all blinking but the baby. She commented that a friend had told her all Facebook/Social Media sites are a lie of reality. And so she put the not so "perfect" photos up with the nice ones as well. Nobody looks perfect all the time. But sometimes that is the result of this dreadful flood: vanity, fake reality, obsession with likes/praise, and sincere communication lacks when you're only caring about the next selfie.
I am not saying go hide in a hermit hole, never take photos, and don't feel good about yourself or your family or your prideful....but why do you post what you post? Is it for the right reasons? Or is it to gratify a low self esteem with pride in all your likes and comments? Is it to plaster the world with selfies of yourself? Because do you love yourself without the need of social media? If not, put down the phone, leave the trap, free your fingers and find time to get to know yourself, develop real actual talents and explore this beautiful world we live in! When you step away from the screens it allows you to have real interactions with the world around you.
Don't get me wrong, I am one who succumbs to the media flood every so often. How freeing it is though to not have to check up on everyone's life's and as a result feel less beautiful, like your life is boring, that you don't matter, that you just wasted 2 hours...or whatever it can make you feel. Instead I hope we can all learn temperance and self confidence in a world that is lacking in both. Fill the flood with positivity and then get off and live life! I have a bosom friend who explained life as a harbor. We see ships come in to our harbors and some weigh anchor and stay a long time, others come in and unload their freight and leave. There comings and goings in a harbor and that's how life should be. We aren't supposed to have to keep up with everyone else's life and forget to live our own or to pay attention to the people and things that matter most. There are supposed to be some who stay in the harbor for a long time and others we are blessed to have port for just a little while. When we allow the flood of social media to envelope our lives this ebb and flow cannot happen!
So when the flood sweeps you up and you get caught in endless hours of social media...swim out and take a breath of reality. When you do join the social throng make sure you are posting for the right reasons and flood those busy internets with good! Because as I said before floods can be a huge blessing as well. Make sure you're helping it bless the world!
Love, your fellow flood swimmer
I thought this video was a sad reality of the negative of this flood we are in;
And here is one for the POSITIVE (it is related to the LDS faith specifically,
but there are MANY ways to spread positivity online);
The train bridge is over a beautiful part of the Snake River and you have to climb up a little bank to get onto the tracks and then to the bridge. We had forgotten to pack the tripodand so James ran down to the car and grabbed the stroller to use in its place. So there we were with a baby a stroller and us happily trying to get some family photos together in a beautiful fall day. We checked in the camera to see if a train was nearing. There was a bright light super far away and James thought it looked like the curve of the freeway shining from the setting sun. So you can guess what's coming. As we are setting up another shot James turns to see three lights coming our way....meaning a TRAIN!! So I quickly grab Jane, her cheerio bottle and start to jump over the beams to get off the bridge. James grabs the camera and stroller and starts booking it down the hill. We all got off the track and no more than 20 seconds later the train zoomed by us. It was a engine with two cars, so not a long one. We pulled our hands doing the train whistle sign and the conductor CHOO-CHOOED at us.
