True connections

Here's a comment I hear more and more often when I see people face to face:  "Oh yea, I saw that on Facebook".

Everything's on Facebook now.  We feel like we are connecting with people because we post stuff and people like our statuses.  When we finally see someone what do we talk about because they already know everything that's going on in our lives from facebook.  They know what our dinner looked like, what our kids are doing, what our workout was like.  So is there even a need to get together?

That's a rhetorical question.

There's a scene in the movie "Wall-E"  where everyone is rolling around on little hover crafts (because people don't walk anymore in the future) and they all have a screen in front of them where they can talk to images of people.  Then one day one of the person's screens turns off and they look around and see that there are other actual living people out there!  And stars!  And a real living world out there!

I do enjoy the convenience of social media. It's a way we can communicate with lots of people at the same time.

But let's not forget the human element.

We need face to face contact with people.  That's the way God designed us.

We need interaction and real communication with each other. Not just "oh I saw that on Facebook".  But getting down to a deeper level with people.

Communication can be divided into five levels:

1. Level of acquaintance
2. Sharing of information
3. Sharing of ideas
4. Sharing of emotions
5. Gut level sharing

Social Media, texting, and email pretty much stays at level 2. How can we get past this and get to a deeper level of communication with people?

It's tough because it requires an element of vulnerability.  I don't like sharing my heart on my sleeve. 

But it's nice to be truly connected to people in a way that social media can't fulfill.

Some ideas on how to get past level 2:

Pick up the phone and talk to someone
Ask them more than "How are you?"- Ask how they felt about something
Talk about more than just the weather or facts...get down to opinions and emotions
Write a card or letter and snail mail it to them
Pray with someone

How have you connected with someone today?