Snow Storm Jonas Blew in Some Clarity..

A month ago yesterday, I embarked on a crazy trip half way across the world to find something I thought would be worth it. Whimsical to say the least, but a thing I felt so strongly about doing that I knew I had to. So I did. And boy what a trip it’s been…

While I promise to organise my thoughts on everything that has happened and then write them down because something this big must be documented in the most special way I know how, this is not the reason for this post. Rather, I am writing this because I am having a slight existential crisis, with regards to our generation and technology. And myself.

I had always said that I wasn’t like all the other kids that can’t exist without the validation of likes on the wide array of social media platforms available to us today. Who can’t truly enjoy a moment without ruining it by thinking of the best way to capture it and present it to the world. Who will then ooh an aah and make you feel special and better than them because you are doing such cool things, with such cool people..at such cool places. I prided myself on this because I could see how it clearly formed the greatest petri dish of all the nutrients required to perfectly construct the worlds fakest relationships.

I know people who live for their feeds.

Now I have always known all this, and although I have felt as though I was above this stupid way of ‘living’ that takes so much away from you as a person, I realised recently just how guilty of it I am. I realised it because I for the first time really came into contact with someone who genuinely doesn’t care for it. At all. And I think the fact that he is the same reason I traveled half way across the world, means that he is important to me and I truly value his opinion.

Something amazing happens when you love someone. You start to see yourself through their eyes. And because you are beautifully clouded by love, you want everything they see to be good. I saw him see me, and watched as he failed to understand the importance of documenting moments to the extent that we do. In my bubble of people that do the same thing, this was not normal. Almost expected. It wasn’t to him.

He called me out. It made me stop. ‘Are the people on your computer more important than actual people here, than actual things that we’re trying to do, than our time together?’ I had no real answer…I hadn’t made that connection although as soon as he said it I knew it was the obvious one to make. When you prioritise Facebook/ Instagram/ Whatever above whatever it is that you’re really doing then you insult on the deepest level the importance of what you are doing, and perhaps maybe even more so, who you are doing it with. And if the people around you aren’t affected by it, then I think it may be time to evaluate those people.

Anyway, I had no phone for the last month. Not by choice but its the best thing that could have happened. I had no Instagram. And Facebook required effort and time. I got a new phone yesterday and one of the accounts I decided to check into this morning was Instagram. The most amazing thing happened. I was on it for a total of 5 min. I found the entire feed to be overwhelming so I decided to actually search for people that I cared to ‘catch up’ with. I literally checked seven people’s feeds. Seven. I follow 400 people and I was interested in less than 10. I can’t for the life of figure out why I have the rest of those other people there. They make me tired. They add no value. Yes they are pretty…but then what? I looked at my own feed. I have 500 followers. Why do these people follow me? Do I present any value to them apart from being good to look at? We have so much time to impact each other positively yet we mostly waste the chance with nonsense. The people whose feeds I looked at, were real. They were nice people that I cared about. They added value to my life.

That is what I want. I want to be valuable. I just want to transcend the nonsense.

‘We don’t need a scrapbook for life’…I agree. I’m so happy to have someone that makes me better.

Love,

Noni