My anti social media behaviour...

Last week I visited my parents in Bristol. On the second evening of my stay, after dinner, Dad and I simultaneously switched on our laptops, much to the dismay of my Mum who said bluntly "oh no, not the dreaded laptops again.... you guys are so antisocial" to which my Dad replied "why do you have such as phobia about my laptop....I'm only downloading some video from my camera, it'll only take a few minutes" . Two hours later and Dad's video was still "converting files", I was still "checking my e-mails" and Mum had gone to bed. She was right - our laptops had stopped our relaxed dinner conversation and turned us into computer geeks.

This got me thinking that, whilst new technologies provide us with incredible opportunities to "be social" with like minded people across the globe, it often leads us to behave "antisocially" to the people that matter most to us.

I admit that I am guilty of this. I often find myself checking Twitter and Facebook via my Blackberry when I really should be playing with my children or making conversation with people I pass throughout the day. Even as I write this blog, I find it hard to resist checking my phone beside me when I can see the little red twitter light flashing at me out of the corner of my eye.

Before we had the internet at home, I used to look forward to curling up in front of the TV in an evening, next to my husband with the cat on my lap. I now have a laptop instead of my lapcat and my poor husband...well, he sits on the other sofa being just as antisocial as me!!

So the question I ask of myself is this: Am I so busy "connecting" with people far away that I forget to connect with people in the same place? And what example am I setting to my own children (now aged 5 & 3) who will no doubt end up conducting more antisocial media behaviour than me? I am certainly not looking forward to the day when they come home from school and immediately go online to check Facebook or similar to chat to friends rather than chatting to me, so I can definitely sympathise with my Mum.

And another thing - if you have bothered to read this blog - you are being antisocial too. SO PLEASE STOP NOW! Go on, just switch off, take a few minutes to look around and have a real chat with whoever is near. The Lady sitting near you on the train? Your colleague? Your family members...or even your Cat!

I'm going to do that now ☺