It's not like seeing dead people, and it's not as if the voices are disembodied spirits or evil residents of my mind who are telling me to do horrendous things. No, the voices are real. I hear voices of hundreds of friends on Twitter and Facebook. I hear voices of co-workers in cubicles around me. I hear music playing (overflowing the earbuds of many wearers) and voices raised in song. I hear televisions spouting the minute-by-minute "news" of the world. And I have to say it's a bit much.
I'm all about people and communication, but why does it seem there are no filters anymore? Do I have to hear every single thing that every single person on the planet wants me to hear? And when did it become a sign of success when our Tweeple count reached a certain point? Or our status updates hourly on FB?
Lest I sound like a complaining dinosaur (which I am, but not too much), let me cut to the chase. I'm frustrated because with all these voices ringing in my ears I feel like I'm not having meaningful conversations anymore. My conversations feel like they're being squeezed into 15-second sound bites and it's making me irritable.
I understand that the only thing that stays the same is that everything changes. I get that Twitter and Facebook (and all the other social media) are the tools of the trades these days and to stay on top of business I need to use them wisely. I love technology, but starting today I'm going to be more insistent on setting healthy boundaries for how much of it I take in and push out into your ears.
This is a picture of my amazing son-in-law, my beautiful daughter and their precious newborn. I love how his arm encircles her arm, and then her arm encircles the baby. So when I'm restless and feeling discontent from social-media overload, this image is what I will use as my touchstone to center myself in that which matters most: peace, love and family.
