Today as I was waiting for my son to get out of school I heard something interesting on the K-Love radio station. It hit on a topic I have posted about a couple times now: social media. In today’s day and age we see so much on social media, but we see actually without truly seeing. We don’t truly see what that person is meaning by their post. Or we are not truly seeing because it is a highlight reel of that person’s life. We maybe seeing only what that person wants us to see, not what is really happening. Many of us when we are waiting for kids, waiting for an appointment, even sitting in traffic, or just before bed will pull out our phones to get caught in the mindless social media scrolling. As the talk show host said today though, it is mindless and we are not even seeing our supposed friends.
There are so many people who are wanting to be seen though. They need someone to reach out and listen. They need to know someone cares. They need to just hear from a friend or a loved one. They want to be seen but don’t know how to tell you. It may even by your kids that need to be seen. It may be your spouse or your significant other. It may be your parent.
As I sit and now wait for my daughter to get out of school, the parking lot is filling up and I glance around at the parents waiting. A majority of those waiting are in the car scrolling on their phones. Why have we resorted to this scrolling as our go-to or to even feel as this is a need? Just last week I was dropping my daughter off at school. I was sitting in the drop off line and she was reading to me. I picked up my phone to check the status of an online party I was having. There were a few comments and so as she was reading I decided to respond. At one point she looked over at me with a look of are you even paying attention. I looked at her and said, “I am still listening”. As I drove home that day though I knew I truly had not heard her. Yes I heard the words she was saying but I was not truly following along with the story. In the afternoon when I picked her up I apologized and told her I didn’t truly hear everything she was saying. She talked about my mom ability to multitask and I said, “yeah but I wasn’t this morning”. I told her I messed up and what I was responding to didn’t need a response right then and there.
So friends I challenge you the next time you are scrolling on social media ask yourself is there someone who wants to truly be seen. Instead of scrolling on their page send a quick text message or write a quick note and drop it in the mail. No matter our age we all like to get fun snail mail. Who can you truly see today?