I read an article recently about how Facebook is making people feel lonely and isolated.Say what?
Ironic, isn't it? You there with your 900 or 372 friends? Even if you only have 23, that's still quite a lot. Twenty-three would fill up your house and 372 a rented community center if they all showed up for your birthday party.
Lonely? I totally get it. You sit around in your little office or living room or college dorm all "connected" to your "social network." You read the status updates that go out to all 177 or 1,032 of your friend's friends. You look at the pictures of their recent trips to Rome or Houston or Grandma's Easter Supper. You might even feel that little green monster of envy tickling your cerebral cortex (a miserable irritation if there ever was one).
How often do you get a personal notification more than two lines long from a Facebook friend? How often do you wonder why you only got two "likes" on your recent, wholly original and super clever status update?
You know what doesn't produce a feeling of solitude?
(Wait for it. You know what I'm going to say already, don't you?)
A letter or postcard in the U.S. Mail!
Get on board with this, people! Even if you don't have a limitless social calendar full of parties and date nights and girlfriend getaways. Even if you live in a Quonset hut in the Aleutian Islands where it's pitch black from October to March. You get a piece of written correspondence with a Liberty Bell Forever stamp on it and I guarantee it staunches loneliness in its tracks.
You gotta give to receive.
So get out there and write someone a letter! Do it now!
1 comment:
Just put one in the mail to you today! And, I wrote two other people this week. I'm doing my best to spread the word. I love this post. I can see how people feel disconnected when all they have is a little screen to "talk" to. Keep it going, Deb. You just might make a difference!
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