5.9 hours a day. 5.9 HOURS A DAY! That’s how much time the average adult spent each day with digital media in 2017. And you know that average has only gone up up up in 2018. (source: Kleiner Perkins Annual Internet Trends Report) And the latest stats show that people are now watching over 1 BILLION HOURS of YouTube videos A DAY! 1 BILLION HOURS! (source: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/39-youtube-stats/) What is happening to all of us?!?! How did we ever let it get this out of control????
Think about it…we are all sitting in front of a digital screen watching videos of kittens and babies, scrolling through social media photos that paint a totally unrealistic view of what life should be, and playing online video games with a bunch of complete strangers, and having entire relationships via text messaging. And we all did that for an average of 5.9 hours every day last year! And you know that for this year we are all way over that 5.9 average…I shudder to think how high that number has actually climbed…
How did we get to this point?! How did we get to the point where we hardly ever talk to anyone face-to-face anymore? How did we get where we hardly ever write an actual letter or thank you note to anyone? How did we let ourselves get where we hardly ever go outside and just play anymore? And why did we stop playing board games and card games where we actually sit around a table with each other to do it? How did we let ourselves replace laughing together with an “lol” and how did we let ourselves replace saying the words “I love you” while looking lovingly into our sweethearts eyes with a texted smiley face heart emoji or a “<3”? How did we let our digital media usage take over our lives to this extent?!
I don’t know how we let it get this bad, but I know that it is, and I know it will only continue to get worse if we don’t start to force ourselves to STEP AWAY FROM THE DIGITAL DEVICES! For heaven stakes STEP AWAY (I’m yelling in all caps as much for myself as for all of you… #thestruggleisreal )! Even if just for a few of those 5.9+ hours each day. STEP AWAY from the pet videos and social media posts and just go outside…talk to a friend…visit a neighbor…go sit down at lunch with someone (and no -grabbing something through a drive through together doesn’t count!)…sit around a table and play a game with friends…write someone a handwritten note or letter…go outside and get some fresh air…perform an act of kindness for a stranger…LIVE LIFE!
~Amy Rees Anderson
