Flooding

I haven’t looked at social media in months. The result has been that I haven’t seen pictures of loved ones for months nor do I know what they are doing/where they are beyond the random text messages and happenstance meetups. After meeting my great uncle 2 weeks ago and heading home to FL, I decided to reactivate in order to connect with friends in person. The second I reactivated my Facebook, I was absolutely flooded with images, updates, locations, videos, changes in relationship status, changes in job status, etc. I couldn’t take it. My heart ached. I looked over hundreds of recent pictures of loved ones. I found out friends had moved places and I had no clue. I found that life was continuing and it was continuing at a very very very fast pace. I found myself painfully missing people. I found myself reading about fads. I found myself reading friend’s rants about things I didn’t even know they cared about. It was disorienting, overwhelming, tearjerking, and wonderful all at the same time. I don’t know how long I will keep it activated but I do know that there is an element of tangible connection on social media that is painfully and wonderfully addictive because it feels so real (even though pictures are edited, updates are overthought, etc.).