I don't know if I actually fully believe what I'm saying right now or if I'm just saying it to be all hipster, but the problem I have with the whole "omg everyone is being sucked into social media" is not that people are staring at their phones all day.  No, that's not what really gets me.  What gets me is that everyone is staring into their phones and not really DOING anything.  That's really what I hate, especially when I catch it happening to myself.  You see, the whole "hey go away world, I'm going to lose myself in an electronic device" thing has been happening wayyy before all of this silly social media stuff and all that.  Heck yeah, I'd escape from that boring car ride, or that plane flight, or heck, even that dinner where there's no real reason for me to be there.  I'd escape into Mega Man Battle Network 2, or Trauma Center: Under the Knife, or Link's Awakening, or -whatever-.  And that's great, because sometimes, I just don't want to be here in the real world.  I just want to play my game and accomplish something.

The problem now is that it's turned into not really -doing- anything.  The problem isn't being engrossed in our electronic toys...it's that somehow, it feels like we're NOT engrossed in them.  If you're idly flipping through facebook, or checking your mail, seeing who's online...it's like flipping through the TV channels, without any purpose, just because you happen to be sitting at the couch and couldn't think of anything better to do with your time and you're too lazy to get off your butt and do anything, even -sleep-.  In my world, email shouldn't be something that you "check".  It's something that comes at me like a phone call, and I deal with it.  When you "check your mail" for the umpteenth time in a row, it's not because you think there's going to be any mail there, but because you just couldn't think of anything better to do.

Part of it I think is the fact that I'm growing up now and have all of these other things I want to do.  I can't keep up anymore.  I've lost that battle, unfortunately.  Damn.

It's not -always- terrible, though.  You know, when I'm bored and I look at my iPod now, I actually spend that time reading through cooking recipes, because I'm trying to learn more and become better at it.

But yes, the point isn't that we're too absorbed in our phones...because we're not even doing that.

Observing the way that other people consume social media is really fascinating.