My friend Nolan Dalla recently put down his smartphone for a week and fought the urge to check social media relentlessly:
Sure, social media seems like a blessing, and it surely can be — when it’s used and practiced in moderation. But when every waking hour of every day, including our weekends, become consumed with texting nonsense and checking and re-checking our Twitter and Facebook accounts for favorites and likes which is akin to puppy dogs panting for milkbones, when we can’t eat a meal or drive a car or walk in the park without the security blanket of a smart phone resting in our palms, we can’t possibly be the beneficiaries of such a constant bombardment of uninvited headaches and mostly useless (not to mention frivolous) information.
In short, we’re not using high-tech. High-tech is using us. We’re become slaves. Addicts. Junkies.
Do any of us really care to know who bubbled a $300 buy-in poker tournament in Prague? Do you really want to know what LeBron James thinks about Ferguson? Does anyone want to read yet another right-wing wacko manifesto on how President Obama is the secret lovechild of Karl Marx and Madeline Murray O’Hare? My recent discord isn’t just another “get off my lawn” tirade against social media’s weak signal to noise ratio. It’s a higher calling for a complete lifestyle adjustment and total reevaluation of one’s priorities.