I am such a photo pushing fanatic. I literally cannot recall any moment in time that I haven’t been just absolutely mortified if I didn’t happen to catch a picture on my iPhone of my dog sitting like a meerkat for the umpteenth time, because this one, THIS VERY SHOT, is going to put the hundreds before it to filthy shame.
I think the sad part of growing up as kind of the first “technology driven” generation; I really went all out and did the damn thing. I mean, I went into it with a “go big or go home” kind of approach. Forget school work, or anything that could actually benefit my education; because there’s nothing like spending a solid 8 hours of your life a day soaking up some good Vitamin AOL to the sweet symphony of dial-up. I was so “that” kid. The one that would have rather updated her LiveJournal with her menial day-to-day activities, instead of actually going out there and being an active member of any society (other than the one I made on Sims.)
I think the saddest part of this for me, was that I got into the habit of living my life THROUGH these constantly evolving means of socializing and sharing. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve become a little too great at doing both behind a computer or iPhone screen…and not so much in real life. I sometimes (ok, maybe more than half the time) forget to enjoy a great moment for being just that. My instinct is to always grab the closest thing to a phone or tablet I can find (I tried taking a picture with the remote once) because I want to have something to document everything. The weirdest part of this being you would think these memories are for me…that you would come over and see frames on frames on frames over every inch of my walls. But I would be lying to you if I said it wasn’t for the instant gratification of knowing I’m just going to Share it so others will LIKE it, or APPROVE of it. Or think it’s just so darn peachy that they can’t even deal. (because my dogs meerkat pose in 3 different rooms is just so tantalizing to you all I bet you can’t even control yourselves just thinking about it)
I grew up hiding behind what I could have been experiencing in real life. I still catch myself doing this as a comfort in a world I don’t always feel so comfortable in. I like to poke fun at myself, deeming my social awkwardness as one of my many “quirks” but truthfully I can’t say that things wouldn’t have been even a little different, or I wouldn’t be slightly better at communicating; had I not spent most of my time talking to others via pop up screen.
I think as a general rule of thumb, you aren’t supposed to put yourself on blast if you’re not going to take something away from it. SO, in light of this new and improved development, I am going to take a very difficult stand on my soap box, and declare to the 3 of you that actually waste your time reading my banter; that I am going to TRY and refrain from the compulsive need to share every waking moment of my life on Facebook, or Instagram, or nose deep in Candy Crush. That I will no longer feel the need to take a picture of my dog tilting her head 3 inches farther to the left than yesterdays photo, justifying my insane right to post it nonetheless. I will NOT be a victim to fruit slicing, candy matching, or virtual produce growing in any way, shape, or form…as I fear it may be eating away at what little brain cells I have managed to keep around.
Will this be an easy task? Hardly. Will I want to nope the f*ck out? Yes. Quite possibly turning to violence and hard drugs as a result. But at what cost will all of this be worth it? When I’m huddled, rocking in a corner, drooling and mumbling something about phantom texting pains?
Never gonna happen. But, hey. you guys are great listeners, fo’ reals. If I had one of those cool object projectors they use at sporting events, you’d all be going home with arms full of candy, over-sized t-shirts with silly animal puns on them, and quite a large amount of false hope.
I’ll always be the CSS/HTML layout making, Instagram liking, Facebook posting and sharing, SIM game loving, iPhone picture-taking and editing freak of nature you all get super annoyed with having to keep around.
So suck it, Trebeck.
Charlie takes Phoenix 