Social network? How do you figure?

I just read a comment someone wrote about Facebook. It wasn't long, it just contained a short quip about the user's mom and what she said about it. What she said was that ever since Facebook became popular and everyone started using it she, being one of the few who doesn't use it, has lost track of what is going on with the people she knows. She used to get the occasional e-mail or phone call, but now, nothing. This brought to mind the fact that, though they call it a social network, Facebook is more like a social cop-out. I know some of you will argue this, that it is a great way to be more involved in the life of others, but I am going to post my thoughts on it.

Now, to make sure it is clear, I hardly log in to Facebook, let alone actually use it. Every time I log in to it I see random comments that to understand I would have to read millions of posts from many people to get a somewhat hazy picture of what the poster might actually be talking about, I just don't have the patience to figure out someone else's drama, so I avoid Facebook and if anyone messages me on it I usually don't see it until much later. Anyway, that being said here is why I feel that using a social network to connect with others is really just a way to not do it.

Our communication skills have been getting worse as our technology improves. It used to be you had to travel somewhere to talk to someone and that made it a very special occasion to get to catch up with them. Then at some point we started sending messages, like mail, with someone to be delivered. This made it possible for us to keep up on the more recent events but it was still special to see people, this was actually an improvement. The next thing that happened is we could call someone and talk to them, hearing someone's voice can be very comforting and also gives us a more instant connection to people, talking on the phone can still be quite personal, though a letter is more heartfelt and visiting in person is still the best way to connect with someone. The next things that happened were technology, we started sending e-mails, still something we could personalize, like a letter, except that it arrived nearly instantly. We eventually moved on to paging people or sending text messages, which limited the things we could say which changed our language and degraded our skills in actually writing. Then we continued down this path and eventually arrived with social networks. Now, instead of sending a person a letter, calling someone specifically or using any other of the past points of contact we can just post our thoughts to everyone in general and if we want to connect with someone specifically we "like" their post or say something short and truly pathetic in terms of comfort to what we previously had. So, instead of making single, personal connections that take time out of our lives and let people know we care, we instead can put this little "social" blurbs about what's going on and let people know we saw they wrote something. Don't you feel so much closer now to the person who said, "Yeah, that sucks" to you when you shared your absolutely worst experience ever with them? Yeah, I don't either.

So, to keep with the theme of this blog, your life will be quite a bit greener if you take some time to really connect with others. Give someone a call or write them a letter, it will make them feel better and in turn you'll feel better as well, especially if they take the time to write a letter back.

As a side note, I must add this as well. Social networks aren't all evil, they do have some benefits for people that really don't have much time in the day and need to connect somehow. My wife for example pointed out that it helps her feel less lonely in the day and she doesn't really have the ability to call someone or write a letter when she's watching two young children. So yes, they have their place, but my argument is that they aren't always as social as they are made to be.

What's For Lunch?

Lunch, it's that tiny meal in the middle of your day. For some people this is an important meal, it means you get to take a break and eat something good that will help you get through the day. For others, well, it's optional and often skipped, kind of like breakfast. The only problem is, breakfast is important too, you really should be eating both.

If I skip these meals in the day it adds unneeded difficulty to it. I'm irritable and can't think. I also feel lazier as the day drags on, I don't want to move from my desk despite the fact that I know I would feel better doing it and I end up watching the clock slowly tick by. I just have no energy or ambition, I also find it hard to focus and think my way through the problems of the day. And though it makes my work day difficult, it makes the moments when I get home much worse than that.

On days that I don't eat properly I am very hungry when I get home, my first goal when I get home is to find food and find it fast. This often leads me to eat the wrong things, cookies and cake and anything else that is already done. For us this is not usually leftovers, those have already been eaten. So I eat all this stuff that, in the end, doesn't really make me feel better either physically or mentally, it just fills my stomach, plus, I didn't enjoy it and I love to enjoy the good things like cake. The next problem with this is that I eat all this food and when dinner is done I don't eat as much of it, but it was by far a much healthier thing to eat, so in the end I went hungry, had a rough, grumpy day and then starved my body of the proper nutrition it needs to keep me going. Oh, and for those parents out there, this also means your kids see you gorging yourself on junk, what do you think they'll be doing when they get older?

So what do I recommend? Take time to eat something, make sure you have breakfast and lunch. It doesn't take long, sometimes only about 5 minutes to eat the food you brought with you, but it gives your body something to work with and keeps you healthier. As far as what to eat? Honestly, try to bring your lunch, the things you buy from a fast food place are terrible for you and won't give you the boost of energy you need to function properly or for very long. Also, I would recommend avoiding sandwiches, especially if you buy your bread pre-made. There isn't a lot of body to sandwiches (unless you make super sandwiches that are loaded with everything) and so they only fill your tummy for a little while, though they are better than nothing. I would say your best bet is to plan dinner with tomorrow's lunch in mind. Make extra of your dinner and bring it with you, at least then you have something good and probably somewhat healthy, plus a hot meal always seems better to me than something cold. Oh, and if your excuse is still that you don't have time, I highly recommend you rethink that. There is almost always time to find a few minutes to do something good for yourself, and you'll probably make up for that lost time by working smarter because you can actually think straight.

Sleep is Important

This may not be a surprise to most of you, but sleep is very important. In living a greener life you should make sure to get consistent, adequate sleep. When I say adequate, it means what your body needs, enough to be rested and not to run out of energy at the end of the day because you are tired. Consistency is important too in this statement, if you are always changing the time you go to bed you will find that you are tired more often, at least that has been my experience. By going to sleep at a normal, consistent time and getting the sleep that you actually need (and I can hear the people bragging about only needing 2-4 hours of sleep already, however I think they're kidding themselves in the long run) you will find that you are better rested (obviously), more alert and healthier. Sleep gives the body time to do the things it cannot do when you are active and awake, when you have a good nights sleep then the chances that you will be healthier are higher. I've found that with a consistent sleep schedule, mixed with a good diet, I have been much healthier now than I did a few years ago. When you are healthy and alert you make better life decisions. My worst choices come when I am so tired and worn out, I just want easy things, things that will make me happy and that's when I will fail the most in my endevours to be more green in all aspects of my life. In the end, these choices to make myself happy end up making me miserable and I regret wasting my time, energy and finances on them.

One of the things that can help sleep come is to take some time at the end of the day to settle down, this doesn't mean just to plop yourself in front of the TV because that can make some people's sleep suffer, but find an activity that is calming, requires a little less thought and helps you ease into a state of mind that in conductive to sleep. It doesn't need to be a lot of time, a half hour can make a major difference, but so can simply 10 minutes of reading a good book. There can also be too much time spent in this activity as well. If you take hours to wind down I think you are doing the wrong activity, it should not take half your night watching the television to relax. Personally, I don't care much for the television, it makes people slothful, they sit there in front of it for hours and do nothing (which can be good for settling down, but not good for going green), my particular area where this can happen is in playing games, so I have to watch out for the same thing as well. You see, if you end up wasting all your time relaxing you won't accomplish the tasks that you desire to do to make your life better, and this practice also negatively affects your health. So, what I suggest is, take a moment when you get home, get your brain together, collect your thoughts, but don't stop for the day yet. Make dinner, do what you need to do, then spend some time working on your greening project, it could be finding a way to trim your budget, balance things out, make some healthy foods, do some research on going environmentally greener, then when you have done something productive you can go to your favorite activities, spend a little time there, enjoy your time a bit, and then get to bed at a reasonable time so you can have a wonderful sleep and be well rested and alert tomorrow.