Talking is so 1999

I can't believe it's Sunday already. I've nearly broken my promise by not writing anything all week, save for comments on Facebook, which hardly counts. Does it?

I'm falling into the trap of believing that the conversations and dialogues we have on Facebook and Twitter are just as valuable as real human interactions and maybe they are. I can't even tell anymore and that's unnerving.

I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in awhile recently and she surprised me telling me that it looked like I'd 'had a nice Christmas'. How did she know that? Did I run into her while I was in the USA? Now, someone who has had as many cocktails and taken as many chemical stimulants as I have in my life automatically assumes I've had a massive blackout. The Jew in me thinks I have a brain tumor. It always takes me a second to register that I'm constantly putting my life on Facebook. It's there for people to judge, get involved in, comment on and 'like'. The conversations I have with people on Facebook somehow mean that when I see them in public, we're good. They're all caught up. Well why the hell are we meeting up anymore at all?

I wondered this yesterday as I sat in the pub amongst some of my closest friends looking at the sheer amount of people around us on their phones. Obstructing their lovely faces and covering the pretty mouths that should be talking to one another. Were they Tweeting their innermost thoughts so that they could each read them on each others feeds and then discuss them? Do we feel safer saying things on social media? Is Facebook making us boring dinner companions? I fear it does and I'm guilty of it myself.

I come home from my day at work and Steve already knows what I've been up to. I've plastered it all over my feed. I've probably photographed it, and by the time I get home I'm so bored of it I can't even be bothered to talk about it with my husband. Right now as I'm typing this he has no idea these thoughts are in my head. 'He'll read my blog' I think to myself and continue tap tapping away. Is this normal? And if it is are we happy about it?

I had an ancient Nokia until two years ago, so I had no internet on my phone, no other capabilities besides talking and texting and I got along just fine. However, now that thought frightens me. It scares me. I was thinking about doing a blog about not using my phone for 10 days and the thought freaked me out so badly I talked myself out of it. Who the hell am I?

I am a mere collection of statuses, a anthology of emoticons and a whole lot of words I will never speak. I long to have these kinds of conversations with actual people and not just a profile picture, but we're all so damn busy that it's impossible. I say screw that. Let's make time for each other. That shit's important. If I talk about some stuff on your page that is interesting let's meet up and have a conversation about it. Let's exchange ideas and change the world and shit. I think that so many people have resorted to plastering inspirational life quotes on their Facebook as a substitute for living. Or at least living the way that we used to. Let's get all retro on this piece and have lunch.