Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. I needed to take a quick blogcation last week. So, thanks for being patient with me. I receive some good feedback from an agent this week, too. So, I’ll be tweaking my story. But enough about that. Today, I want to talk about in-person connections.
Photo credit: SolanoSnapper on Visualhunt.com
We are social animals. We need to connect with other people to maintain our mental health, but what is a healthy connection? That’s a good question. A healthy connection is one where the friendship or partnership is equitable, meaning both sides are benefitting from the relationship. I wonder how social media affects this. It seems like there isn’t much real reciprocity on social media. I mean the only engagement on social media is likes and comments. Most of the engagement is surface stuff. Most people don’t discuss deep topics, so it makes me wonder, are deeper issues being addressed anywhere?
It seems not. Anxiety and depression are on the rise. This is a clear indication to me that deeper issues aren’t addressed. Teens are more inclined to communicate via social media, and most of them (and adults too) are building a brand or an image. So, what’s on social media isn’t necessarily true, but our kids believe it is. They’re young and their brains aren’t fully developed. Executive functioning doesn’t fully develop until after twenty-five.
So, where am I going with all of this? That’s a good question. What I’m trying to say is that we need to keep up our in-person connections as much as possible. Kids need to learn how to read social cues. We also need physical touch. Hugs are one of the best ways to get those endorphins flowing. I wonder if we did more in-person communication if it would have a positive effect on say mass shootings? Maybe we wouldn’t have as many violent crimes in our world.
Just a thought.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I appreciate it. What are your thoughts? Would more in-person contact lower the number of mass shootings in our world today? I’d love for someone to do a study about that. Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
