The Impact Of Social Media & Technology On Our Generation

Californication’s Hank Moody said it best: HM: People seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People... they don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. It just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people at a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English. Interviewer: Yet you’re part of the problem -- you’re out there blogging with the best of them.  HM: Hence my self-loathing. (Love that man. If you’ve never seen the show, then you’re missing out.) Just a decade or two ago, all of these social media apps and sites and modern-day struggles were nonexistent. Now, the majority of our generation (and the generations preceding and following) are obsessed--maybe even addicted-- to our cell phones, laptops, tablets, and computers.  People cross streets and walk through parking lots with their eyes glued to their phone, unaware of potentially placing themselves in danger of a moving vehicle. Friends party together yet spend the entire time documenting their experience through their camera lenses, adding photos and videos to Snapchat memories rather than making real ones. Couples go out to eat together and lay in bed beside each other in silence, connecting with anybody inside the little rectangle in their hands but the one directly in front of or beside them. Mothers and fathers drive around while their child rides along in the passenger seat, avoiding conversation at all costs, staring into an abyss of an online social life that’s falsely illusioned to be reality. It’s disturbing to watch happen in public. It’s also extremely bothersome when the person you’re with is doing it. It’s even more painful when you realize you’re at fault for doing it too. Sure, technology has drastically improved our everyday lives in ways -- that I won’t argue. The world of tech, software, and digital marketing has created millions of jobs across the globe. I earn my living by working from a laptop 50+ hours every week and witness first-hand how digital utilities save us an insane amount of time and energy in completing tasks that would’ve taken 5x longer if done manually.  New inventions are created every single day that positively impact us and our environment. From gasless cars to medicines that cure the previously incurable, to tunnels that transport vehicles across cities in no time (shout out Elon Musk), to 3D printing, VR headsets, and beyond. Social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tinder, and Bumble enable us to connect with people we wouldn’t have been able to connect with without it. Just by performing a simple name search or swiping to the right, relationships can form and long-lost friends and family members are able to find and communicate with one another. We can literally form bonds with anybody through dating apps, even those who live 500 miles away. It’s so easy to swipe and see who’s out there and meet people we wouldn’t have met otherwise without these platforms.  But what happens when you match somebody? Who messages first? Do either of you even message at all, or do you linger in each other’s inbox collection of the unpursued? How long do you take to respond? Who stops answering first? Who wins in the contest of giving the least fucks? Or rather who loses in the contest of giving the least fucks?  In a recent conversation, my coworker who’s in her mid-forties had said she could never have survived the dating world as it exists today. Similarly, here’s a text conversation I just had with my mom when asking her to help me pick a featured image for this post:  Although her suggestion was more appropriate, for some reason I chose a photo of a photo of a sunset. We live in a time when Facebook comments are equivalent to personally reaching out to someone via phone call or an in-person interaction; when the amount of likes you receive on your Instagram selfie validate your worth and give you a false sense of fulfillment; when “good morning” texts with kissy face and heart emojis show more affection than actually spending quality time with each other.  When does this stop? How does this stop? When do we take a step back and realize how dependent we’ve become, and when do we do something about it? Have our lives been simplified to the point of no return? Can we even return?  I don’t know, but what I do know is that I’m over this generation’s, yes, including my own, reliance on technology. It’s time to put our phones down and out of sight and truly live life through our own eyes and not through our cameras. It’s time to have conversations and make real-life connections rather than digital ones. I don’t know what it’s going to take to make this happen, or if it even can happen at this point. All I know is that it’s about time for a change, and that time is now.

3 Positive Habits That Will Change Your Life

Hi, all! I hope you’re doing well and your new year is off to a happy and healthy start. We’re already approaching the end of February, which is insane because I feel like the year literally just started. I wanted to take the time to share some things I’ve been doing this year that I feel you should be doing as well. These three habits that I recently picked up have helped me live a better life in regard to my finances, my mentality, and my goals, and I’m writing this in hopes that they’ll do the same for you. 

Here are 3 positive life-changing habits you should pick up as soon as possible:

1) Create and implement a monthly spending budget.

 Whether you want to understand where your money goes each month or you want to start saving better, the best (and only) way to do it is to follow a strict spending budget. Want to go on vacation but don’t have the funds? Go out to eat or drink too often and need to adjust your priorities? Have a bad shopping habit and need to reel yourself in? To create a budget, all you have to do is take an hour or two to sit down and lay out how much you can afford to spend on what every month as compared to your income. At the end of every month, assess how you performed and re-evaluate as necessary. (In my first draft of this post, I laid out my entire how-to on creating a budget but realized it was way too long. I’ll be posting it in the future in case you want to keep an eye out.) Being able to visualize exactly what you spent your money on helps you to adjust your spending habits, spend smarter, and save better. By doing so, you’ll be able to afford that vacation or purchase that high-priced item a lot sooner. 

2) Maintain a checklist of things you want to do and goals you want to achieve.

 I have a vision board in my bedroom hanging directly behind my desk (where I typically sit when I’m in my room). Here’s what it looks like:It’s extremely large (36” x 24”) and full of notes, photos, and to-dos. I have pictures of my family on the left, inspirational quotes and photos in the middle, and goal/visualization photos of cars/homes/other things I want on the right. Across the bottom of the board is a large section dedicated to my to-dos. My main “To Do List” is located in the most visible spot in front of where my seat is (the white sheet of paper shown above), and it lists my short-term goals (to complete within 1-6 months) and my long-term goals (to complete within 6-12 months). Additionally along the bottom are tons of post-it notes created on-the-fly that are pinned in any open spot with ideas to research and things to take care of sooner than later. I update this section regularly. Why do I do this?Being able to SEE what you need to do or work for is key to getting it done. Whenever I finish a task or achieve a goal, I cross it off the list. Reminders that I have to succeed and reminders that I have already succeeded are motivation for me to keep going -- this is what keeps me on track. What do you have to do to make a vision board?Buy a large poster board and fill it with everything mentioned above (or whatever you want). Check Pinterest for ideas from other boards. Above all, make a checklist of the things you want to do, places you want to go, and the goals you want to achieve by year’s end. I promise it’ll help you make it all happen. 

3) Focus on your well-being and improving your overall quality of life.

 How’s your year going? If your immediate thought was that the year is going well, then good for you! If your answer is anything less than that, it’s time to make changes. It’s time to start focusing on yourself and improving your quality of life. How can you do this? Do any or all of the following things: Surround yourself with as much positivity as possible.Eliminate toxic people from your life.Focus on growing within your job.Treat yourself every now and then (whatever this means to you).Eat those cookies but also get to the gym. Spend some time in nature once a week.Spend less time on your phone and on social media.Listen to good music.Cook more.Eat better food and drink more water.Do what makes you happy.Be with people who make you happy.Be the type of person who makes you happy. It may be difficult to make the necessary changes in order to live a better life, but complacency kills. Comfortability is nice, but pushing the boundaries and exploring new possibilities is nicer. Take better care of yourself so you can take better care of others. Do what you have to in order to put yourself closer to (or at) the top of your list of priorities and watch everything else fall into place. Not happy? Become so. When you become happy, life becomes a lot more enjoyable in return. And that’s it!  I know this was a long post -- I’m a wordy person -- but I hope you see value in what I’ve written here and you’ll implement these three changes to your life as necessary. If you enjoyed this post, please share on Facebook and Twitter so we can all start living better this year and moving forward. Also feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for reading. :) Related Post: 25 Natural Stress Therapies That Don’t Require Medication 

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17 Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self

Reflecting back on my younger years, especially those during middle and high school, there are countless things I wish I had known back then. There are so many thoughts I wish I could have believed and so, so many lessons I wish I would have learned earlier. Here are 17 things I wish I could tell my younger self: 

1. Don’t follow the crowd. Be a leader. Be yourself.
2. Being “cool” means being nice, and being “popular” means absolutely nothing once you enter "the real world."
3. When you feel like things won’t get better, they will. Hang in there.
4. You will find love someday, and it will be worth the wait.
5. Being smart isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s completely and entirely the opposite. Playing dumb is unattractive. Study and strive to do well in (and out of) school. It will pay off.
6. Don’t pay mind to bullies. Their words do not hold any value. They’re going through shit, too, only they’ve decided to take theirs out on you.
7. Embrace your weirdness. Never let it go.
8. Take more pictures of yourself, your friends, your family, and experiences. You'll enjoy the ability to look back on them later in life.
9. Surround yourself with great people. Choose a solid group of friends who build you up rather than bring you down.
10. Find and follow your passion. Stick to your hobbies and don’t be ashamed of them. You could make a shit ton of money someday by doing what you love.
11. You are not fat. You are beautiful. Trust me, you’ll wish you could look like this in a few years.
12. Everyone has flaws and imperfections. You are perfect just the way you are.
13. Live it up while you don't have many responsibilities or bills to pay. Go out, have fun, and make memories that will last a lifetime.
14. Stop stressing. The little things that you worry about now are minuscule compared to worries ahead.
15. You are enough.
16. Appreciate your family. Spend time with them. Tell them you love them every single day. And keep in touch with your grandparents.
17. Please don’t rush growing up. Adulthood is not as alluring as you imagine it to be. Believe it or not, you’re going to dream of being back in your shoes someday. Enjoy every single moment to the fullest.

 What are the things you wish you could tell your younger self? Feel free to comment and share below. I’d love to hear them.  Thanks for reading! If you related to this post, please give it a share on Facebook or Twitter. 

3 Reasons Why You Should Eliminate Toxic People From Your Life

Have you ever had a friend that just totally dragged you down? And whenever you’re around this person, you feel so drained and so low, so much so that you practically can’t wait to stop hanging out with this person just so you can be alone and recharge? Because I have. I like to call these people “energy vampires.” Disclaimer: This post is not about having friends with problems. I’m talking about purely negative people. The Negative Nancys. The ones who are never happy for you. The ones who never have anything good to say about anything. The ones who suck the life of out you with their inability to be anything other than pessimistic and toxic. What I want to discuss in this post is why it is so important to cleanse yourself of those energy vampires who are stealing your precious time and well-being.Although the list is infinite in length, here are three crucial reasons why you should eliminate toxic people from your life: 

1. Negativity breeds negativity (and positivity breeds positivity!).

 Let’s start with an analogy.Have you ever had a bad start to your day? Did you think to yourself, “This day is off to a shitty start. Let’s see what else could go wrong...”?Suddenly, something else went wrong... then something else went wrong… then something else went wrong… until your day was a complete whirlwind of crap that left you wondering what the hell happened and where the hell you went wrong?I’ll tell you where you went wrong. You set yourself up for failure.If you expect bad things to happen, bad things will happen. If you anticipate good things to happen, the likelihood of good things happening increases. If you changed your way of thinking -- if you changed your attitude and your perception -- and said, “well, that sucked, but it’s okay. The rest of this day will be better,” then chances are your day would have gone a helluva lot smoother. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking...“So you’re telling me that all I have to do is think my day is going to go well and it will? Sounds like total bullshit to me.” Yup! 100%. No bullshit. In fact, that’s what many refer to as “The Secret” and I just shared it with you. I’m not making this shit up, I promise. It’s the law of attraction. There are books about it. Read about it. Research it. Thank me later.You’re welcome. 

2. By ridding your life of toxicity, you make room for better things to take its place.

 Have you ever heard of the saying “stress kills”? Yes? That’s because it does (it’s actually not even a saying… it’s more of a universal truth backed by studies).Toxicity practically translates to stress. By ridding your life of stress, you'll naturally feel more at ease. The same goes for the type of people with whom you surround yourself. If you hang out with negative people, then you surround yourself with negative energy. Negative energy is contagious and leads to an increase in your level of stress (unless you’re a superhuman who just doesn’t give a fuck about anything -- then props to you). Less stress = happiness.It’s a no-brainer.Rid yourself of those wicked energy vampires to clear up space for new, better things to enter. You’ll notice that the more positive people and vibes you engage with, you’ll have more positive experiences and a healthier mental outlook as a result. 

3. You regain valuable headspace, time, and energy to focus on yourself.

 No matter what you’re seeking, you’ll ultimately recover the ability to focus on YOU. My whole point here is based on this simple principle. By decreasing the headspace, time, and energy used for external sources that do nothing but bring you down, you regain those vital elements to spend on yourself… or whatever the hell you want to spend them on. The opportunities are endless! Those 3+hours you would have spent hanging out with that person you feel obligated to see despite not wanting to because you know it’ll depress you? Now you can spend that time doing what YOU want to do -- either alone or with your new, non-vampirous friend(s)! SCORE. If you made it this far into my post, thank you. Really. It was a long one, and although you might think I’m a total wack job, I’ve composed this post and these reasons from my experiences with energy vampires and throwing them out of my proximity.I never said it would be easy, but what I am saying is that it’s worth it. You just have to be willing to make the cut.Now go ahead and cut that toxicity out of your life. Cut him/her/them right out then reward yourself with a nice, big, delicious cup of IDGAF-about-you-anymore/you-ain’t-gonna-stress-me-out-ever-again/I-love-my-sanity-more-than-your-insanity tea. Or coffee. Whichever your preference.Either way, sip that shit and enjoy it in your new sense of peace.