Facebook is Keeping Me Sane

While we’ve become comfortable with the blanket label of “social media” to refer to online behaviors and sites where we interact with other humans, we are almost offended by the growing role it plays throughout our days and in our relationships. Facebook technology, specifically, allows us to connect with ghosts from our past, bridge the gap between acquaintance and true friendship, and to satisfy the thirst of grandmothers everywhere for up-to-date photos of roly-poly babies, soccer games, and lost teeth. It is my goal for social media relationships to enrich my life and to build me up, and I work hard to keep social media in its place.

Online interactions can certainly detract from in-person relationships, particularly in scenarios where an individual has become particularly tethered to a smart phone or other mobile device. The photo above is from the lock screen on my phone, and serves to remind me of one of my major goals for the year: Be Truly Present. Practically speaking, this means, when I am at home enjoying dinner with my kids, social media isn’t there. My phone is off. Instant messages are not interrupting our conversation. My computer plays music and serves no other purpose.  At dinner with friends, the phone might be used to post a couple of pictures, but it is not used to participate in conversations outside the dinner table. 

While I understand its privacy and distraction perils, in my ideal, social media makes friendships more plentiful and enriches the experience of shared life among my friends and family. Through Facebook, I connect on an almost-daily basis with a friend I met three years ago through a business engagement. We have spent time together once, but are kindred spirits and a continual source of support for one another. I also exchange group messages with my brothers and sister-in-law and feel like my siblings are greater part of my life, even though we no longer live together. I’d like to believe that the presence of my friends on Facebook Messenger is keeping me out of another lame relationship and is allowing me to reach out and invest in relationships that truly matter to me. While I am, at times, exasperated by Facebook, my attitude is mostly gratitude for the ability to stay connected and have meaningful relationships in the midst of an absolutely chaotic life.