"Handle With Care" was the name of this blog until today. I've started making reels for Instagram (despite feeling silly) and called it "Three Minute Thoughts" because that is the length of my commute. As I was racking my brain to come up with a new title, it occurred to me that these blogs are going to follow the same line of reasoning: short, to-the-point, what's on my mind. That is the simplicity I want for 2025.
This morning I thought about how many of us on social media have taken the mundane, curated it, and then created a super specialized Cult of Personality. So many of the details of our lives used to be private (dinner pictures, workout pics, etc), but we've elevated this stuff so much that we are losing interest in the real person behind the pics and posts. For example, when I used to meet friends' kiddos, I was genuinely excited.
Now, we've seen everything from first steps all the way to first jobs. I've said hello to kids of friends who I know I have never met in real life, but I feel like I know them because of their parents' feeds. If that doesn't feel weird, I don't know what does.
There's no mystery, no intrigue, nothing (it seems) to discover. Remember when you'd hang out with a new friend or go on a first date and feel so excited to learn that you both love movies from the 1980s? Or, you'd discover that you both love J.D. Salinger? That just doesn't happen anymore because we have shared so much that it seems there is nothing left to find out.
I blame Covid for this. There weren't real life connections to make, so we had to curate ourselves to become (or at least look like we were) interesting enough to be friends or date. We lost our chances to discover another person. The curated life becomes generic and reduced to sides (Kamala vs. Trump, Israel vs. Palestine, pro-Taylor Swift or hater, for example), which has obliterated our ability to really "see" anyone.
It all sounds dystopian, and I have no solutions. I post things about my kids, my writing, my teaching, and even, occasionally, my meals. I don't think we are bad people. I think we are bored and lonely, constantly seeking ways to connect without actually taking the emotional risk to be in the same space.
This is what's swirling around in my brain in the New Year. Updates to come!
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