My friend in Arizona has become the “rescue cat” lady. She is always extolling us with stories of cats who lived in garbage compactors (rescued but lost a limb) and a bag of newborn kittens in a convenience store dumpster (they are bottle feeding them) … to tell you the truth it is emotional exhaustion. I’m seeing stories and films of baby deer and harrowing stories of the disabled kid on the football team … Seriously, I tear up nightly because of Facebook. I can’t take all this drama – oh, and seriously? The coming home from war videos with the little kids and soldier parents, I’m a hot mess.
When I grew up we didn’t have social media. We had 3 channels on the TV (4 if you count PBS – which we didn’t). If we wanted to be emotionally moved, we read Guideposts and we liked it. I didn’t see handicapped kittens or bottle fed deer nuzzling grandmas. And there weren’t a lot of war veterans coming home when I grew up in the late 70’s. My drama was limited. So I didn’t have the ability to immunize myself against said social media drama.*
I’ve told many a soul that my first book will be entitled “Disconnect to Re-engage”. I think I should take this advice and unplug for awhile to really figure out how to not live with Facebook infused drama. (pause and sigh) I was having lunch last week with a friend who told the table that she was incredibly ill the week before and was without her phone for 4 days. “I didn’t even pick it up!” A collective gasp was shared around the table and I immediately felt sorry for her.
I think I have a real problem.
*it’s kind of like my mom was a first generation Weight Watcher. What this means is our house had no snacks at all. So when I discovered Oreos and Doritos – all hope was lost.
-Steve Simonin, President & CEO