As the weather heats up, the activities around town do too. Chuck and I, sometimes alone, or with either kids or friends, try to do several events like take in a Detroit Tiger game, the zoo, a festival here or there, concerts, and so on. Just this weekend Chuck and I took a mini-vacation over to Ontario, Canada to see Country artist Jake Owen in concert.
“I’m just going to leave my phone at home,” Chuck said to me as we packed up the car. “I don’t want international charges anyway, so no biggy.”
I gave him a hug and knew exactly what he was doing, what he was saying, without actually saying it.
The kids and my dad had the number to the hotel where we were staying for the night and we were going to be gone for less than 24 hours. I decided to take my phone, but just for the camera feature, vowing in my head to stay off. I scheduled my Facebook quotes, put an ‘out of office’ response on my emails and grabbed a paperback book to take with us. I was going to stay present and enjoy my time with my husband and not worry about sharing my experience with 10,000 other people on my Facebook.
Over the last few weeks Chuck and I had been taking notice of the zombified public. We saw several people almost get hit as they crossed the road, too busy to look up from their smart phones. We passed by a playground filled with kids, each and every one of them with their nose to their phone, even those that were swinging on the swings. I am sure you’ve seen people texting or talking on their cell phones, running red lights, running stop signs, swerving or not using a turn signal, or you’ve been that person. And at the concert, more than fifty percent of the sold out crowd was texting, tweeting, instagramming, facebooking or whatever else on their phones. The attachment that these so-called smart electronics have created, in order to simplify our life, has actually detached us from life. Don’t get me wrong, I have had many wonderful experiences (and continue to have wonderful experiences) with social media and that I can’t deny, but as with everything in life, balance has to happen.
Questions to ask yourself:
Who leaves their phone on their nightstand and checks it during the night?
How long can you go without checking your email or social media?
Do you get down or jealous when you see someone posting vacation/new house/new romance, and so on statuses?
Social Media Depression is a real thing. We are conditioned to post positive things that are going on in our lives. Recently I had a client who came in who went through a break up from a lengthy relationship.
He’s so happy, Kristy! He’s happier without me, it seems,” Beth cried.
“How do you know that what he’s posting is real and true?” I asked.
Many people post unrealistic statuses about themselves and their lives in order to create a certain digital identity. It’s just another means of keeping up with the Joneses, and it’s similar to the perception that we see with celebrities. They are living this perfect life, right? But then we see the horrific things in the grocery store newsstands and gossip ensues and well, their life isn’t so perfect. Believe me when I say that their life isn’t so perfect, they just have really good publicists to paint a pretty picture and then to repaint the picture when real life happens – because no matter who you are, real life happens.
The same goes for those who post depressing and attention getting posts, it is just the opposite end of the spectrum.
After reading these, do you feel exhausted, sad, hopeless, or insert any other negative emotion?
I’m not saying wipe your social media accounts. Heck, I am not telling you anything, but I am telling you that I have determined over this last year that the balance really does have to happen and unplugging and taking the time to LOOK UP is something important to the body, mind and the spirit.
It was nice to have my husband without his nose in some online baseball game, and he mentioned how it was nice to have me to himself, without an entourage of social media friends in tow via Facebook and Twitter.
So maybe you also want to look at how your social media time is affecting your relationships and maybe you too will want to LOOK UP, I know that the last couple weeks have been eye-opening for me. So excuse me while I put my phone and laptop away, and take a walk or blow bubbles, or jump rope, or garden, or … well anything where I will be looking up!
Take a look at Gary Turk’s Video/Poem – Look Up – over at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY&app=desktop
Believe,
Kristy Robinett
Kristy Robinett (Livonia, MI) is a psychic medium and author who began seeing spirits at the age of three. When she was eight, her deceased grandfather helped her escape from a would-be kidnapper, and it was then that she realized the other side wasn’t so far away. As an adult, she was often asked by the local police to examine cold cases. She gained a reputation for being extremely accurate at psychical profiling. She then began working with US law enforcement agencies, attorneys, and private investigators on missing persons, arson, and cold cases. Her psychic detective work was recognized in a new series on the ID Network, Restless Souls.
Kristy Robinett teaches psychic development and paranormal investigating at local colleges, lectures across the country, and is a regular media commentator. She is the author of Messenger Between Worlds, Higher Intuitions Oracle, Ghosts of Southeast Michigan, and Michigan’s Haunted Legends and Lore. Visit her online at KristyRobinett.com, facebook.com/kristyrobinett, or on Twitter @kristyrobinett.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In