Social media.
I love you. I do. A whole lot. However, we are at a crossroads, and we need to reevaluate our relationship. Update our status, if you will.
I think we should see other people.
Hear me out, please.
I thoroughly enjoy my time with you. You fascinate me. And quite truthfully, I am indebted to you. You have opened the floodgates to valuable, far-reaching connections I otherwise might not have. You have offered ten years’ worth of support and humor and entertainment and interaction. You have provided me with a sounding board and a friendship forum. You are my not-so-private diary and my most creative scrapbook. You are a fun place to hang out.
Sure, there are some who disapprove of you. They question your intentions and doubt your genuineness. They call you names and stay away. Maybe for valid reasons. Maybe not.
Just know that I try really hard to see your goodness, your usefulness, and and your power to foster a shared existence. I want you in my life.
But — I still think we should see other people. It’s not you, it’s me.
The reality is… I have become so smitten with you, so comfortable with you, and so drawn to you that I have given you free access to my attention. Regretfully, at the sake of others.
This is not okay, so I am drawing a line in the sand.
From now on, you are not welcome when others are around. The people in my midst deserve my full consciousness. There is absolutely no reason to peek at you for connection when connection is staring me in the face.
What a twisted message I send when I choose to scroll aimlessly through my newsfeed, viewing adorable photos of adorable children, while the children I adore most in this world are playing two feet in front of me.
If I am sipping wine with my girlfriends, I need to be clinking glasses with them, not clicking “like” with you.
That picture (and well thought-out caption) of me spending quality time my family? It can be shared when I am done spending quality time with my family.
And I hope you firmly grasp the hunka hunka burning love I feel for my husband. We really don’t need you intruding on our date nights, kay?
Relationships are everything to me. I suppose that explains my joy of social media…
It is all about people.
So here we stand, at this pivotal crossroads. I hope you understand my desire is not to unfriend you or unfollow you. You mean too much to me. Let us instead view it as a temporary logout. Because THEY mean too much more.
ADDENDUM: If you are reading this… and we find ourselves hanging out in real, actual life… and you see me reaching for my phone… and you notice my finger inching towards a social site icon… I give you permission to karate chop my hand and apprehend my phone for the remainder of our time together. Hold me accountable, dear friends.