Look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby and Father Mckenzie had one thing in common; they were lonely people. So even though 61 years have passed since the Beatles composed that song in 1966, it is as timely now as it was then because many of us feel the same way; lonely in the midst of crowds, lonely in spite of the 500 friends on Facebook and the many followers on Instagram and Twitter.

We may find ourselves acting just like Eleanor; leaving the house wearing a mask that was left by the door and hiding the longing we have for an intimacy deeper than the one social media can provide. Maybe all we are asking for is one or two good friends to whom we can talk about life or a significant other to share day to day things.  It is not a lot to ask, right? Tell us about it in the comments.

However, we find ourselves settling for instantaneous and brief happy moments in social media that create the illusion of community while missing the opportunities to connect with those around us. Don’t get me wrong social media is a blessing that helps us connect with family and loved ones, but it’s not the source that leads the way to meaningful relationships; Andrew Sullivan explains it perfectly in his article I Used to be a Human Being

“By rapidly substituting virtual reality for reality, we are diminishing the scope of this interaction even as we multiply the number of people with whom we interact. We remove or drastically filter all the information we might get by being with another person. We reduce them to some outlines — a Facebook “friend,” an Instagram photo, a text message — in a controlled and sequestered world that exists largely free of the sudden eruptions or encumbrances of actual human interaction. We become each other’s “contacts,” efficient shadows of ourselves.

As Sullivan expressed, beyond a few pictures and a couple of comments we are not going to know what it’s happening in that person’s life or them in ours. If we depend on social media to maintain relationships, it will end up bearing no fruit. As all it is doing is creating a wall that will keep us from seeing each other’s reality: their body language, their struggles, and the ugliness of life that doesn’t make a perfect filtered Instagram picture.

Join me this week in stepping out of the comfort zone to take the time to invest in someone’s life, face to face or even through facetime and skype. Ask someone from work, church, school or college to grab a bite to eat and resist the urge to hide in your smartphone or tablet as you are walking outside. You never know what new thing we will learn by just looking at people and our surrounding or what conversation with a stranger may arise if we only look up.

Application:

1. Media Fast- Set up a time and length for you to withdraw from social media and your devices, this can provide more time to engage with others and time in meditation and prayer to be in communion with God.