I think Facebook is telling me something.
I spontaneously decided to cut myself off from Facebook a couple weeks ago. I came home one day from a church retreat, and my brain started hurting after I opened the page. All the info jumping at me was too overwhelming. In response, I pulled a pseudo Forrest Gump and “just started runnin’…” without any real reason or purpose.
It didn’t last more than a week (though I use the site MUCH less often), but unexpectedly, I learned something in the end. It’s not rocket science, but it’s still somewhat thought-provoking. At least, I hope.
We love ourselves… A LOT.
Here’s why I think that. Hundreds of millions of people, from seemingly every different background (race, religion, gender, political stance, whatever else there is), all use Facebook to let people know what they’re doing, how they’re feeling, what they think is important, what’s funny, what’s idiotic, what deserves your attention, what doesn’t, what they’re listening to, etc… and on top of that, they all want to know what others think about it all. It seems like it points to us all thinking we’re overwhelmingly important, and that we really care about each others’ opinions of us.
This isn’t to condemn or bash anybody. It’s something I simply noticed and think is true. Facebook seems to tell us the human race is pretty self-absorbed.
Maybe it’s not a terrible thing in the end. It reminded me of this, and when it did, it blew my mind. I mean, if we decided to love others as much as we love ourselves, that’d be pretty powerful, right?
