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Connected or Disconnected: That is The Question

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By Evangelina Taurizano

January 14, 2021
11:24 pm
Los Angeles, CA

There is no internet, I have no connection, Instagram is not working, WhatsApp messages do not enter … phrases that can make us think that we are close to the apocalypse in the world of disconnection. Yes, you read well. When we all think that we live in the era of Communications, where everything connects to everything, I can assure you that human beings have never been so disconnected.Instagram I ask you to close your eyes and think about your last family dinner. It is not so difficult. We have recently passed meetings dates like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. I invite you to ask yourself a question: how many of you left or did not bring your mobile phone to the table at one of those special

Yes, you read well. When we all think that we live in the era of Communications, where everything connects to everything, I can assure you that human beings have never been so disconnected.Instagram

I ask you to close your eyes and think about your last family dinner. It is not so difficult. We have recently passed meetings dates like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.

I invite you to ask yourself a question: how many of you left or did not bring your mobile phone to the table at one of those special dinners? Furthermore, how many did not post a photo on social media on that date? Did anyone decide directly to turn off the phone to be able to connect with your closest ones?

I don’t know why, but I can almost imagine the answers. Turning off the phone would be almost like jumping out of a skyscraper in free fall. Who would do that?

It is not necessary to stop and think too much to realize the dependence that our mobile phone and social networks generate in us. We are constantly drawn to what happens out there. But how real is what is shown and how does that affect us?

Social media stress(photo:theklutterkoach)

There are different studies that ensure that our constant connection to social networks significantly increases our anxiety, and in many cases causes us a deep depression. If you want, you can read it yourself just by clicking here https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/lessen-negative-effects-of-social-media-tips

We feel the need to know everything that happens in real time, and that splendid life that is shown on the networks, many times leads us to feel frustrated, to want to be in that wonderful place where one of our virtual friends is enjoying.

Wanting to be like one of the personalities that we follow, to have their life, their experiences, their residence. However, everything that is shown on social media has to do with success. Hardly anyone posts to show how bad it is or how empty it feels.

And, on top of that, instead of feeling more accompanied every day we are more alone. Are we really connected with all of our followers?

How much does it affect our self-esteem to receive fewer likes than we expected with that post that we were thinking for a long time and to which we apply a thousand filters to look dazzling?

The year that has just gone, 2020, has undoubtedly been a year in which networks and virtual meetings marked our lives. Everything went through zoom, meet, teams, Instagram, twitter and other similar sites.

The pandemic made contact with other human beings, flesh and blood, a place of extreme danger. But I wonder today what is more dangerous? I leave the answer to each of the readers.

However, if you allow me, I am going to share with you my conclusion.

I live at home with my five children. Their ages range from sweet 16 to 5 years old. I have seen them day by day hypnotized by the Tablet, the mobile, the PlayStation, the social networks, the Netflix series. First, I decided to fight against it, set schedules, block the WIFI connection at a reasonable time and then I realized that the battle was lost.

At the end of the year it occurred to me that the only way to “unplug” them was to go where the connection did not exist.

Thus, I planned Christmas in the middle of the Mountain, away from everything, even any hint of a telephone signal.

We put together backpacks with the minimum and essential (everything we wanted to carry, we had to carry on our backs). We bring food for a week, sleeping bags and a tent that the six of us can fit into. We left, and I must confess that the two teenagers were not in their best moods.

At the foot of the mountains there was no longer any way of knowing the outside world. Instagram was frozen in the last image that had been uploaded minutes ago and thus, we entered the forest bordering the Blue River.

Soak In The Mesmerizing Sights Around The World(Photo:travel triangle)

I can assure you that I have not lived a moment of greater connection with my five children than those seven days, nor of them with me. The mobiles were forgotten, there was not even where to charge them. We had the obligation to talk to each other, to ask ourselves what was wrong with us, to tell each other stories, to go to sleep listening to the music of the river and the rustling of the tree branches lulled by the wind. We were in trouble to Communicate and the best of all was that we succeeded.

As the days went by, no one wondered what was happening with Instagram or Facebook. We did not even turn on our phones to see if by some miracle the WhatsApp messages had entered.

On Christmas Eve, Martina, my 16-year-old daughter, wrote in a notebook for memories that was in the mountain refuge, that she had never had an experience like that. She, who was just a teenager worried about likes and social networks.

A week was enough to show us that we do not need to be so tied to the networks, that it is much healthier to have the power and the ability to choose when to be in and when to stay away.

The age of communication has made us more disconnected, more anxious, more distressed. Pending what happens, every minute, in each place, but perhaps without noticing what happens with who is by our side.

If you dare, I suggest you just turn off your mobile for a few hours, because going into the mountains could be a bit more complicated for you. Have dinner as a family, ask each one how their day has been and connect, but for real.