Social Media

With all of the social media combinations that are out there at the fingertips of anyone who has a smart phone, have you ever considered yourself a "lurker?"
I really had not ever thought of going on line to lurk. Who has time? After coming across an article in the BBC News, apparently it is quite common. This in turn causes self-esteem issues in many people.

This concept interested me, for whatever reason--I think the main reason was that it was so far out there that I had never even considered it. You see, I am a firm believer in using the scroll tab on whatever device I am on at the time. I love staying connected with friends and others with the social media. Silly me, I thought that most people did scroll on down when they started reading something that really did not pertain to them or bothered them.

Some examples that I have seen are outright angry discussions concerning politics, news, religion. These discussions can get quite heated. Who has time for that? My momma always taught me to be careful who you have those kind of discussions with, especially when you are not sure of your sources. Politics and religion are very private matters to me. It is best that I scroll on down. I do not judge a person on their views, I simply have decided not to join in their discussions. The fact being is that each person seems to believe their way of thinking is the only way of thinking. I beg to differ.

The BBC article stated that too much browsing on Facebook can actually make one compare their lives to others. In some ways, this totally shocked me. Can't we feel happy for those who post beautiful pictures where they travel or perhaps their new home or their precious new baby in their families? All of this is positive. We have to remember that we all have good things going on in our lives. No one has this Ken and Barbie life going on 24/7. It is only a chunk of their life. If someone's posts continue to annoy you then unfollow them or learn to scroll. 

Pick out what you feel you are emotionally able to handle when you use one of the social media channels and go from there. I do know that besides the political and religion rants, two other things have my finger on the scroll button. They are when I am reading about how ill someone says that they are feeling and then they go on to write what they have accomplished in their day. That is an automatic hit scroll. Stay safe. I can tell you that I use great will power to not type the comment, "Well, DUH!" The other item that I feel is not really appropriate for all to know and read about is someone's horrible misfortune, some even with graphic pics. This information is best left to those as in friends and family, as in person or private e mails. Again, this is just the private side of me. I am not hiding anything, it is just that I don't need for the world (slight exaggeration) to know about what specifically I may be going through with myself or family. 

One way to stop feeling jealousy or low self-esteem is mentioned in many articles that I read and that being is to take yourself off of the social media channels altogether. That seems rather extreme, however, I know many who have done exactly that because they could not resist the temptation to look at all of the posts and compare their lives with what they read others are doing. You do what you have to do to work on your own emotional health. 

Can't we all just be happy for one another? Each person has something wonderfully happy going on in their lives. Take the time to think about it and share. We all don't have the resources to have extensive travel plans all around the world, yet we all can make plans to travel some. Write down in a journal each day what you specifically are grateful for and you will be surprised at how many so called little things can add up to make for an uplifting day.

It is only 10:15 A.M. and so far I could say that I am grateful for:

• a loving husband who got up with me and we made the bed together before having breakfast together
• coffee
• a 62 pound precious goldendoodle who loves to greet me with a wagging tail and puppy kisses
• coffee
• Pandora radio that today I chose the David Benoit Radio station for my morning writing time 
• coffee
• looking out the window by my desk at the cardinals who come to the bird feeder off and on all day, every day
• coffee
• two wonderful ladies, who are like family, doing the weekly cleaning of our home
• coffee
• the sun shining on this crisp autumn day, looking out at the still green trees which soon will be changing colors 

And the rest of the day is yet to come. Oprah got it right when she said, "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." Let the celebrations, no matter how big or small, begin!