The Free Dictionary has this definition for "connected":
con·nect·ed (k-nktd)
adj.
1. Joined or fastened together.
Life these days is all about being connected, how many friends you have on Facebook, how many followers you have on Twitter, how many connections you have on LinkedIn. In reality, how many people are you truly connected with instead of to?
Are you just passing through this life, being connected on the surface, but failing to be truly fastened together with those around you in real life?
It often seems to me that the advances in technology are not truly bringing people together, but pushing them further apart. Sure, we can have friends that we've never met all the way on the other side of the world and we can learn about things that we never knew existed. All of that is great. But, when I'm sitting in the local McD's and see people come in together, but never look at each other because they are each on the cell phone, either texting or talking to someone that isn't there in the flesh, never saying a word to the person they are there with, it makes me sad. For all of the connecting going on out there, there is more of an unjoining than a joining with those right there in our presence. There is more Facebook connecting than face-to-face fastening together.
Is this how life is truly meant to be lived, based on cell towers and button-pushing, never looking or talking to those around us?
Citation:
connected. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved December 18 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/connected
I'm with you. Just adding someone in our contact list doesn't mean we really know who these people are. Getting connected is more than just like, comment and read their post. It's about meeting face to face to have the joy of meeting.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post.
@Azuma-chan
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate it very much.
I think that although we can truly connect with others online, it just seems lately that it comes at the expense of those right here with us. There needs to be a happy medium, I think. There needs to be a realness to it, a depth, more than just a click involved.
It is a lot to think about as we seek to expand our reach online, but to also prioritize our lives.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one that feels this way. Thank you again for stopping by and commenting. Have a wonderful day and a very Merry Christmas!