What Private Life?

After a few tough months, I can finally feel my heart stirring again. I had a wonderful lunch today with a passionate lady who has been thinking over similar things to me. I got to thinking about this whole social networking scene, and how we are beginning to lose our privacy. 


Now, I'm as guilty as anyone about throwing all my personal information all over facebook as I guess I thought people cared. But lately, I've become a lot more selective about what goes on there. Does anyone actually care if I was 'with six other people at Nandos' or does anyone really want to see a picture of what I had for tea last night? The truth is I don't think anyone gives two hoots. So why do we feel the need to do it? Is it an insecurity thing? An attention thing? Does it make us feel better about ourselves if we get '10 likes' for our latest status? In the grand scheme of things what does it really matter? Our worth doesn't come from things such as those. 


I'm starting to re-find the joy in doing things that nobody else needs to know about. Truthfully, in my house at the moment I can't get away with leaving the house without everyone wondering where I'm going, but i'm trying to keep some things private. Everyone doesn't need to know who I've been with, what we talked about, where we went - because those things happened in that moment, for us, not for anyone else. 


When I think about relationships, (though I am not in one - I will relate this to God instead) I think about how there are things that no-one else needs to know. Phone calls you might have, romantic gestures, dates , conversations etc. Those things are for you two to enjoy together, and they should be private. It should be your choice whether or not you want to share that with anyone. When I look to the Bible, there are plenty of times when Jesus would remove himself from being with everyone, and he would take himself away to a mountain and he would sit with God. It would be their time to enjoy each other. Who knows what Jesus prayed about, what he thought about in those moments but God? No-one. That is how it should be. Those are precious moments that mean something to you and to God. 


What I am trying to say is that there is nothing wrong with holding back parts of you and your relationships that the whole world doesn't need (or want) to know. I am pretty sure that for most of the cack I've put on facebook in the past, (to quote Ross) 'no-one even gives a tiny rats ass' about it. So why do feel the need to do it!? It is our choice whether or not we put ourselves that much on display. I have decided I'm going to think more about what I show to the world, and what I keep for friendships and other relationships. I remember people used to say that texting was 'ruining the art of coversation' and I thought that was stupid. But with all these technological advancements, we really are losing the art of building relationships and instead we are throwing ourselves all over social networking. There has to be a healthy balance!

From this day forwards, I vow to spend more time building real life relationships, think about improving my friendships and meeting new people, with less time spent building virtual communities and wasting hours of my life on facebook.

The old fashioned way of actually being with people is a much better use of our time. :)

xx