online is cool
but…
One day I was on Youtube, watching some self-improvement videos. These self-improvement videos had become program to me, I was watching just to listen. They had become kind of my escape from my not so pleasing reality. I stumbles across a video by a guy named Jordan Green, I don’t remember the title of that video but one thing he said stuck with me, he asked “can you remember a crazy moment you’ve had on social media?” I paused the video right there and then to try and remember one memorable moment I have of social media. I had none.
Later that day I was talking to an elderly lady, looked like she was in her eighties, and she told some cool stories of when she was still young in her twenties. Endless stories of what life was like in the sixties and seventies, I concluded that life then was tough but at the same time it defined full. I thought to myself, if I get to live to be fifty of sixty years and above, will I have stories to tell? With a daily screen time of up to nine hours?
I admit that I was spending way too much time on my gadgets than most people, but even four to five hours on screen daily is just way too much (except if you work online). You might not notice this but if you zoom out you shall see exactly what I mean. Four hours per day is twenty-eight hours a week, 112 hours in a month and 1344 hours a year, which is equivalent to 56 days in a year or 4 days in a month. Four days in a month is more than enough to do something that you shall live to remember. Something that you could talk all day about.
Sky-diving is a great way to create a lifetime memory but most of us will never be able to do sky-diving or activities that take involve lots of money, so does that mean our lives suck, no! the best memories are usually the simple ones in which you were just in the moment, especially with the people you love such as friend or family doing some type of fun activity physically. Monetary status is not what matters but it helps.
Question, between having the litest group chat with your cousins on Whatsapp and walking down the road having that same conversation, which one is more memorable? Playing FIFA on your PS5 or playing some deflated football with some random kids, which one will you remember more?
The PS5 is no doubt fun and realistic but what makes the deflated football more memorable is its engagement, plus its unpredictable nature; you might fall, someone might get hurt or it might rain anything could happen when you are out but in the PS5 only one of two things might happen, you might either win or lose. The virtual world of games and social media might be full of surprises but surprises you forget as soon as you turn off the screen.
My screen time has greatly reduced since watching that video, I am not doing epic things every-day since then but there sure has been a lot of life in my everyday. Screens are good until you become too clingy to them, just like any other thing. The difference with screens is that they are neither illegal nor physically harmful like drugs.
The internet brings far away people closer to you but puts people close to you far away, it disconnects you from your reality. Winning prices in video games feels great but winning prices in real life is even greater as you get a tangible price plus all the subtle things that come with it. You might be a Cassanova on Tinder but if you are not good at talking to women in real life, that affair is not headed anywhere.
If you are going to be on screen doing anything, first make sure that at least you can do that said thing physically as well. Make sure you can talk to people as good as you talk to them on social media, be decent in soccer if you want to play FIFA, do the same in PUBG(just kidding) and Tinder as well.
Like Bruce Lee replied when he was asked by a kid why he preaches peace and at the same time practices fighting, he said “it is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in war.
Super
Sure thing
True