a week without facebook.

I've recently taken a really microscopic look at myself; trying to re-evaluate where I am in regards to the goals that I've made. I didn't much like what I had to see. So in an effort to become the me I want to be, this week I decided to not use my facebook account. It's unbelievable how much time it sucks away from, well, life....LIVING. Granted, I have cheated a couple of times. This week a massive game of assassins is going on, and I need some information on my hit :} But other than that I've been pretty good I believe. Not perfect: NEVER PERFECT, but pretty good.

In some ways I feel like doing this has helped me to not focus on myself so much. Dad and I recently had a conversation about the "pitfalls of technology". The topic of conversation isn't a new one to either of us, but I definitely feel like I can understand his point of view more. Maybe I'm growing up or something? Anyways, he told me a of a study done that evaluated people's self-esteem and how that was dependent on the number of friends they had on facebook. Don't ask me how one measures self-esteem, but apparently it can be done. Dad said that the people who had 700+ friends typically scored lower on the self-esteem tests compared to the people with 200-300 friends. Obviously this inverse trend was just an observable pattern; there are exceptions. Interesting stuff right?

Instead of getting on facebook during my morning routine, I "tuned into" the New York Times. Basically I just sat and ate breakfast while reading the paper on my laptop. I'm amazed by how much goes on in the world literally undetected. Maybe it's just me, but I had NO idea about nearly everything that's been happening in Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and even within my own country (politically speaking). Reading the articles, while not understanding a lot of it, has been so enlightening and disheartening at the same time. Enlightening in a intellectual sense; disheartening emotionally. Last night Carly, Liz, Kimmie and I got into a discussion about whether or not we agreed with Obama's decision to declare the Defense of Marriage Act (1996) unconstitutional. We discussed how these changes might affect our futures, our kids and the socioeconomic structure of our nation.

To make a long story short, I really wish to encourage people to take some time to step outside yourself. I'm not sure how you'd  be able to tell if you're outside yourself or not; maybe that's something each person has to determine for themselves.

Either way, look out, up and away. 

The view of yourself can be a lot better the further away you look.