New Outlook!

I have done some changing up to this space, and I am so pleased with it! I would love to eventually have a personalized blog layout, but for now this one suits me well. It's definitely more "me", so to speak! 

I'm definitely one of those people who believes that your space has to be inspirational to you in order for you to get things done and to feel creatively free, so maybe having this place tidied up a bit will allow me to type more often and about more things that are on my heart.

With that being said, this has just come over me the last couple of months, and I feel like I should just write it down and move on... 

It's a part of most of our lives, and sometimes it can even be overbearing IN our lives. 

However, it's not important, and it shouldn't be a necessity of ours, but sometimes I am guilty of letting it "control" me in a way. I use control in quotations because it doesn't literally take over my body and consume me, but it's so much a part of my daily habit that it sometimes seems like maybe I'm addicted, although I have to admit, if I have to be accused of having an addiction I guess this one isn't as bad as many others could be.

What I'm talking about is... 

Whew! 

How do I start? I guess the best way to start this off would be this little gem... 

Was that too much? Okay, let me be the first to say this: I am guilty of HAVING a Facebook, LOOKING on Facebook, POSTING on Facebook, and even sometimes DEPENDING on Facebook to find certain things {things that aren't always gossip related}. 

Facebook can be used positively and negatively, and lately I am figuring out that it is mainly used for people who want to exercise their freedom of speech, but oftentimes what they have to say is useless, unintelligent, and I wind up feeling a tad unintelligent after reading through it. With that being said, who is to blame? ME because I have Facebook and am voluntarily friends with these people, or THESE PEOPLE because they aren't utilizing Facebook for all that it can be?

I know this seems a little judgmental, and I don't mean for it to at all - what I'm trying to get across is that we, as Americans, have tons and tons of freedom. We can say and do {mostly} as we please, and I feel like we don't always use that right to the best of our abilities. I enjoy reading through funny posts, updates about peoples health, and I am even grateful for the client base that Facebook has offered for my photography, but what I cannot stand is for someone {of any age} to constantly update Facebook about their personal drama. That is where I think Facebook intervenes with one of the most important part of our lives - physical communication. 

You see, I see so many updates that are indirectly written to {or about} one's significant other, and I imagine that this causes an uproar not only between the two people involved in the relationship, but the REST of the word that these people are friends with. I can't IMAGINE the hurt I would feel if David or even a friend of mine posted a status that was indirectly related to me, only to know that I may not even be the first person who see's it. 

Bottom line:

GO TO THE SOURCE. 

{and by source, I don't mean INTERNET source!}

I have struggled for the past 6 months or so with just deleting it all together. I have deleted the app from my phone several times, and I find myself just using the safari to go to Facebook through the web. This is insane, and it shouldn't be like this. 

I feel sorry for the teens that are growing up who haven't known a world without Facebook. I was becoming a teen right around the time that texting was introduced, but I feel like Facebook takes the joy out of so many things - even conversing with friends because you don't even have to wonder what they did on the weekends anymore - IT's ALL on FACEBOOK! Everything from exact location to emoji's about the way you felt during that time. 

Seriously?

My main point about this post is to further stress that Facebook is a social platform that can be used to strike awareness among individuals about so many things, to share stories that will melt your heart or brighten your spirits, to connect with friends you haven't seen since their last day of third grade before they moved away {my personal favorite}, and to share photos of things that you run across in this beautiful life. I love to connect with new people I meet, and I love to connect with people I've known but haven't seen in awhile. I love to find out that people are engaged or having a baby, and I love to tell people about exciting things with me or share a photo of TK, but we have to draw a line!

 With that being said, USE Facebook for the better. Sure, you can voice your opinion, but do it in a caring and considerate way - don't just word vomit all into the "What's on your mind" box because "YOU CAN AND YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO". I'm not naive that people won't always believe everything that is my opinion, and I'm not ignorant enough to think that no one else has their own personal opinion, but what is so great about a huge controversy all the time - one over absolutely nothing most of the time? 

And pictures that some post to Facebook - well, that's a whole other post, but I will say this: respect yourself, your family, and your peers enough to at least think twice about what you upload to Facebook. It can be taken and use for whatever someone wants it to be used for, and I've seen some that aren't even worthy enough to be thrown in the trash.

Facebook should be a pastime, not a requirement. 

Facebook should be enjoyable, not a criticism platform.

I write this only to preach to myself because there have been times when I have been browsing through it when I could have been spending precious time elsewhere - whether it be enjoying outside, with friends or family, or sometimes even when I'm on a date that David thought out JUST FOR ME. Instead, I get entranced into someone else's meaningless drama, and I waste that time.

I want to delete it, and I intend on deleting it as soon as I figure how to be an administer to my photography page without having a profile. I am no longer using that as an excuse anymore - it is actually a requirement that I find out HOW to do that. 

So, did I just complete step 1 of 10 - "admitting you have a problem?" 

:-/