Today I did something I seldom do, maybe once a decade. I took the entire day off and mostly slept while trying to conquer a nasty cold I acquired during the move and finally has ramped up to be totally obnoxious…
Nevertheless, in spite of this state of lethargy, there is at least one question that had popped into my head on those few occasions when I was lucid.
Q #1
What is it with selfies? Is this merely a revival of the 80’s ME generation or is it something even more unsettling?
I have already spoken about an unnerving similarity between our Prime Minister and the President-elect in their seemingly insatiable appetite for being front and centre in social media. While the President-elect seems to be restricted in his imaging to 140 characters of Twitter, the PM is perpetually encouraging the taking of selfies. What is the image these two people are portraying to the world?
What if they were to reduce their image time by one-half, and use that time to think of others and how they can actually help others to live better lives? Furthermore, what if they were to use their positions to encourage others to do likewise? What if one day a week each was to encourage their followers, and they appear to have many, to put down their smart phones and devote all the time they would normally spend on the phone in activities aimed at helping build their communities.
Let me give some examples, and remember I’m only asking this for one day a week:
* perhaps it’s getting an introvert to join a recreational badminton program once a week
* maybe it’s helping a senior figure out how to use their new tablet
* maybe it is simply offering to assist someone, who received a nice piece of jewelry, pick out the right chain to hold it
* maybe it is baking and then taking some fresh muffins across the street to people who have just moved into the neighbourhood
* perhaps it’s shoveling the snow off the entire walkway near a senior’s residence so people in wheelchairs or forced to use canes can get out and get some fresh air
Now people could argue we can do these kinds of good deeds anyway. But my point is that we need to do them in place of something very self-centred. And, unfortunately, selfies and tweets are all about the taker/sender. Being nice is important if we want the community to be nicer. But giving up the incessant focus on self-aggrandizement through our smart phones would get us thinking about how we can more effectively be nice. In fact, by putting it down for a day each week we might actually find time to talk with real people in face-to-face settings. I’m sure you’ve seen, as I have, young people sitting in Wendy’s all eating but simultaneously looking at their own phones. Occasionally one might start talking, but only into the phone — there was no conversation within the group. Imagine what it would be like on the day their phones were left at home — it might be a little difficult the first few minutes, but soon they would be laughing, chatting, joking and generally having a conversation. And, if they were then to be reminded of the need to do something nice, as a group they could be very powerful.
So let’s try something for 2017. Let’s try to put down our phones one day a week and instead see what you can do at least to make people smile. If once a week is just too dramatic, then start with once a month, for six months, then twice a month for six months, and then let’s check back next year at this time and share some stories of what was the impact — on us as well as on those in our communities.
Let’s make an attempt at trying to implement a selfie-less and tweet-less day at least once a month going forward…
g.w.