An Authentic Life
Today's interview on 88.7 WNHU in Connecticut

Contentedness and social networking

I've been thinking a lot over the past few days about the idea of contentedness.  Since the rise of Facebook and the overwhelming popularity of social media, I wonder sometimes the extent to which our lives are affected by being constantly "plugged-in" to each other.

I remember, not many years ago, feeling much more isolated.  If I was busy with a hobby, reading a book, taking a trip...it never crossed my mind what all of my friends would think.  But a scary thought occurred to me the other day: if I do something now which, for whatever reason, is not posted on Facebook, is not written about on my blog, or does not end up in the podcast...do I feel as if that activity has equal value?  Scary thought. 

More specifically, I'm wondering to what extent we "social-networkers" are even starting to unintentionally filter our behavior based on this.  If I spend a day reading a book or hiking a mountain, only nobody knows about it or cares, am I just as content?  Do I end up choosing not to do things which unplug me from the network and have no relation to the network?  Am I trying too hard to somehow validate what I do, what I think, and who I am externally?

Maybe we'll talk about that next week in the Podcast (haha, I'm sure you see the irony in this).  By the way, there won't be a podcast this week.  We just felt like taking a week off. 

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