Step Back From Social Media

I was listening to a podcast recently that had an "A" list celebrity talk about social media. It seems too many people rely on it to get validation about their own existence. And while this may be in our nature to tap into the narcissistic core want, this is so far from our needs. And it becomes, somewhat of a mania.

The solution, said celebrity, is just to do something for yourself. Live a moment without having to capture it on your phone or camera. Enjoy, absorb and just let the moment breathe in your experience vault. Forget that in the back of your mind, to post and get responses isn't the final goal. It's to do something that you are enriched more for doing it.

I find this a very very cool idea. I'd not been on Facebook since its massive inception. In fact I use to call it "Fuckfacebook" as that's where people become fuckfaces. But here I was at the age of 36-37 posting the dumbest shit I could. I'm ashamed now to say, that initially it was to find out more about the life of my ex. Yeah, take a moment to realize how pathetic that sounds. It was to compare my life with hers. How sad.

Then as I investigated more and listened to more people, it turns out, MANY people do this. They call them creepers. A very strange phenomenon of spying on people and getting what they REALLY think of you.

I don't think this is healthy. Deep down inside, we understand that we are selfish fuckfaces. We only care for ourselves. The very thought that people would consider you in their lives, is...essentially laughable. We can barely keep our present relationships alive. And thus, we gear ourselves into this spiral of getting approval from...COMPLETE strangers. This is actually kinda' sick thinking. The fact that I write this blog is sick in its nature. To me, though, it's to purge a lot of ideas I've had, in hopes that someone out there may take a life lesson. I'm not an expert. Surely not a motivational speaker, but we all have a pain sometimes, and if I can write about it, maybe you won't feel as alone as I use to.

I think that's why I take trips out of Los Angeles proper. I think getting out of town replenishes my identity without thinking I'm judged in any way. This town will do that to you. It forces some of the bad qualities of yourself to the front. Being away, alone in the car, sometimes writing in a cemetery alleviates "doing something for the approval of others." In fact, I've discovered getting out on your own, becoming a stranger in a strange town, you tend to judge yourself less harshly. A strange thing.

Incidentally, the celebrity was Cameron Diaz. Had I told you who it was from the beginning would you have taken it seriously? Think about it.