Ever wondered how people showed love before the internet?
I know it’s weird because it seems like the only way to show love to somebody is to show everybody that you’re showing love to that person.
When you look back at all the years preceding 1994, you would think no one really loved anybody. Although the marriages lasted longer and people didn’t date as many people as they do now. But how the hell would we know? There was no Instagram to post it to, no Facebook to like it on and no Snapchat to snap it on.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and here in the 242, there was a myriad of social media posts of flowers being delivered, chocolates being eaten and dinner being cooked. But does that really mean that these people are in the most loving relationships of their lives?
I’m sure my dad bought flowers for my mother many times (maybe not always on Valentines), but I’m sure he did it and there are no records of it; no pictures, no cell phone videos, the only thing that exists of those moments was the feeling between them when she realized he was doing something to show that he cared. Now maybe she was delighted that all the other people in the office were happy to see her getting flowers, and they should be, they were her closest friends. But sadly, many of us will delete our Valentine’s Day posts if they don’t receive more than 10 likes.
So the question is what do we really love these days?
Do we love the care and attention we receive from our significant others or do we love the attention we get from people we don’t even know, because our significant others did something for us?
There will always be arguments that the world has changed, and it has. Social media has become our new reality. Some of us, while reading this article, have yet to look up to see if they were walking in the right direction or if anyone was approaching them from either side. We are constantly trapped behind the three screens; cell phone screens, laptop screens and TV screens, so it makes sense that all of our emotions are tied to items on these screens.
If we don’t see enough likes we feel sad, if we don’t see enough views we feel like our work isn’t important and if no one ‘follows’ us we lose all our self esteem.
It is a sad existence, but this is what we signed up for when we log on and make social media accounts and run after every new trend (my God, Snapchat was so not a thing two years ago).
So it just leaves us with just one question; do we disconnect our emotions from social media fully and enjoy the company and love of the people we really care about; our family our friends, people we see everyday? Or do we continue to base our lives on the thoughts and opinion of people we will never meet, never see or share the same air with?
That’s how I look at it. I wanna go back to the good old days of people only being able to reach you on your home phone. It meant something when you called a girl and had to get through the ‘top flight security’ of her father, brother, mother or mischievous sister, it made it feel like something, something real, something more. Simply put, I’d rather go back to the days of analog love.
