Something Humans Give, but Can't Take Back
- Kevin
- May 9, 2016
- 3 min read
What's something that we give but can never take back?
.
Our time.
Day by day, our lives get so busy with whatever we're caught up with at the time that we tend to forget how much time we put into our daily activities. Without even noticing it, months, years, decades, go by in a flash because our perception of time is altered as we grow older. And no, it's not an age thing but more of a mentality. An average human in America is expected to live up to 73 years (USA Today), but to that individual, their life could've felt like 20. Our perception of time is altered by how busy our lives progressively get due to increasing responsibilities as well as daily distractors such as social media.
One of the daily tasks we do to waste our time is a big red flashing sign that most of us are aware of, social media. Social media sites such as facebook, twitter, and instagram make people check their phone about 30-40 times a day. (Huffington Post) Think about it. every time you check your phone how long are you on it for? Normally when we check our phones it can go from a quick 2-5 minute glance into a 30-40 minute session of wasted time.
Without even realizing it, there’s so much time we invest on our phones and social media. It’s as if we spend too much time reading tweets to enjoy the tweets coming from the birds outside. Who needs facebook, when I can “book” an appointment to meet you face to face. Really there isn’t an excuse to be abusing social media to the point where constantly checking it is a necessity. I’m not saying social media is entirely bad because it does allow people all over the globe to connect. The key word for this issue is, moderation. Without it, those short sporadic sessions of viewing a live post feed turn into distracting habits.
(Common social media platforms: Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook)
Another time waster, is our work. Yes, that counters my previous argument about using your time for work. But spending too much of time on work can put a lot of stress on you, as well as take away your time from socializing or just enjoying life’s many pleasures. This is an issue I myself deal with as well, and it’s not an easy task to have to remind yourself to not spend too much time on your responsibilities. I believe that we become so focused on making more money, having the best college application, or having the best grades that we forget to stop working and take a break.
People say that taking a break shows weakness, when in actuality sometimes straying away from our duties once in awhile is completely acceptable. We can’t waste so much time on stressing out or else we forget to enjoy morning strolls, the warm smell of donuts, or even small acts of kindness from our peers.
I’ve wasted so much time on constantly working that I feel as if I’ve missed out on a few months of my siblings' childhood. It makes me sad to think that I missed some of their milestones during kindergarten to work on essays and projects. I lost the privilege to have seen their development this year because of how hectic my schedule was this year.
Do yourself a favor, enjoy the little things in life and take the time to separate from your work life. However with that said, do not abuse that freedom. As I mentioned earlier, moderation can determine whether your saturday night is a party or an exhausting night shift.
Overall the take away is moderating your time so that you may have the time to partake in your hobbies or spend time with loved ones. It’s important to get to work and socialize, but it’s also significant to enjoy your life in the moment. Live in the now, not the internet or your stress. There are times to do certain things with certain people, but there’s also time you need to designate to experience life. Because to live, doesn't mean your alive. Our life is centralized on how we spend our time and who we do it with.
Comment down below what you think about how your time is spent daily!
Questions to think also about:
How am I spending my time daily? What are my busiest and least busiest days of the week?
Am I happy with my life choices?
Who deserves my time the most?
How much time do I waste a day on social media? How can I manage my time well so that I do have more time?
I suggest watching this video:
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/facebook-study_n_5595890.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/05/apps-smartphone-use-_n_6096748.html
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/american-kids-will-spend-an-average-of-943-hours-in-elementary-school-this-year/
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