Lazy Online Communication Of Likes and Shares

That's it!  I get tired of seeing this every day.  The mindless chatter online and the statements or likes that say absolutely nothing, add absolutely nothing and do nothing for a day.  Online social media has made us anything but social.

In fact, I think we should just stop writing words online.  Instead, the only thing we should be able to do is "LIKE", "SHARE", and "FORWARD" or insert a smiley face.  No one reads the words most of the time.  I can't believe some of the stuff I've seen.

Life is surely more than giving someone a smiley face or emoji.  Life is surely more than a like on Facebook or Twitter.  Life is surely more than mindlessly sharing things all day on social media while not even knowing what the shared things say.

We could be so much more...

Modern technology could make us so much better, but we have gone the route of lazy in our online communications.  We've gone the way of injecting almost no meaning into what we share and like and write.  All too often, we are not even humans most days online, but we give a smiley or a like in proof that we are.

Can we not do better?  Can we  not rise to the occasion before us?  Doesn't life deserve more?  Doesn't life demand more?  We are failing life - each and every one of us.  We are not human these days.  We are only acting as if we are human.

Consciousness has taken a back door...

Consciousness has taken a back door, but we share our simplistic memes and thoughts as if we are conscious.  Awareness has exited the building.  Compassion is something that we claim we do, but our actions say the opposite.

I'm frustrated with what I see in a day.  I desire for humans to be more than they are and be all that they can be.  Settling for second best is not the desire I have for this world.
 

Let us find ways to use technology to bring out the best in each other, not resort to mindless chatter and name calling.  Let us find ways to use technology to help advance our human civilization, not destroy it with lazy communication that means almost nothing.

That's my rant.  I know, the words will probably fall on ears that cannot hear.  Maybe everyone will prove me wrong and ignorant on this subject.  I may just be preaching to the choir!

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

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Smiles On Your Faces

Today, I once again visited the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando, Florida to walk the Labyrinth. A friend of mine joined us for the walk and this was the first time that she had ever been around a labyrinth.

On our way up the elevator to where the labyrinth is located, a cancer patient was getting on the elevator at the same time. She made the comment that she just had chemotherapy and today was the good day but she knew that the next two days were going to be rough. While I'm not sure exactly what happens in chemotherapy, she briefly explained that the following two days was the body's time of flushing all the bad stuff out. From the little I know about cancer, chemotherapy is a pretty rough ordeal to go through.

The part that got my attention was how much this lady was smiling and so warm and friendly. Her smile lit up the entire elevator and you could not help but smile back at her. Yet, one could understand the horror that she was facing in life. It hit me so much that a person who was going through what she is going through, was able to look at others and give them a smile that would really impact their day. She was not worried about what she was going through. She was more concerned with how we were doing on this day.

And I remember her parting words as she left the elevator, "it is great to see smiles on all your faces because that helps give me hope and a smile." Here was compassion through a smile that is so often missing in our society of greed and the quest for power and control. Just one smile made a big difference. Just one smile shared with us, helped warm the hearts of everyone in that elevator.

Think about the smile that you can give many people in your day and just for a moment, stop and realize how powerful that is to others. All it takes is asking your face muscles to make a smile. That's it! That's all! It is that simple! Yet, that simple act is so powerful. It can give hope to someone who is facing insurmountable odds. It can brighten someone's day. A smile can drastically change life for someone and you may not even realize just how true that is in the moment.

All too often we use our facial muscles to create words of fear, hate, and judgment upon others. We all know how harmful this is to other people, ourselves included, and also to the entire world. For what we do to one another spreads beyond that simple moment of what we say. Instead of using our facial muscles to scream or rant and rave or sit in judgment of another person, why not use these muscles to share a smile that may very likely change the world in a positive way.

This is one reason I started the Give A Smiley Project that you can find on my website at www.donshetterly.com . Just look for the smiley on the page (or the word smiley as I am in the processing of redesigning the website). You'll see what the Give A Smiley Project is all about. It isn't about money, fame or riches. It is about passing a Smiley on to someone that you know or someone that needs a smiley so that it impacts their day. On my website, I've got a page full of smileys that you can download, print and mail or give out to those you meet and those you know.

The concept of the Give A Smiley Project is based in part on the concept portrayed in the movie, "Pay It Forward". This means that if you receive a smiley or are impacted by it that you pass it on.

I hope one day that these smileys will reach all across the world and touch the lives of many. That is my hope because I believe that a smiley can make such a big difference in the life of someone that may be facing difficult circumstances. It may seem like a small act of kindness to you but to someone else, it may greatly impact their day. I send out one smiley every week to some person and every time I place it in the mailbox, it warms my heart.

May your heart be warmed by the Give A Smiley Project and may you do this to help impact our world in a positive way. Ask yourself, who can I give a smiley to at this very moment? Then, go and do it! Don't wait for another day because the timing of today may be for a reason.


Blog Post & Images (c) 12/5/10 Don Shetterly - use by permission only