Social Media: It's Just Another Way of Life

I was bored waiting for Mad to check her circulars…
Did you ever notice a lot of people complain about social media (including myself) and how society has just plummeted to a whole new low by being antisocial because of it? I remember a girlfriend of mine was talking about her sister-in-law and said, "She's on Facebook like 24/7 -- doesn't she work or have a life?" And when you think back to the good ol' days when there were no smartphones or any "devices" to connect you to the world other than the dial up internet connected to your wall, then yes, I would have to say, "GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE!" But that's not the case here. Now, it's quite the contrary. People who do have lives and have something to say about it are all posting about it with their smartphones. I'm an avid tweeter, Instagrammer, Facebooker, and if I see something funny or something that'll raise your eyebrows, my iPhone is gonna capture it and send it out to the world. The best thing is waiting at the doctors office or even standing on a line in Walmart, I'm tweeting away or getting the latest news on "real news" or just random nothingness from friends that'll make me laugh. We're always trying to achieve the best entertainment while waiting for something while we're out and about, and our phones are the perfect remedy. The one thing that makes my blood boil are people using their phones while driving. Nuff' said.

This is our outing at Walmart as I mock Madelene all the way through our shopping extravaganza. (Hit play for these collages below.)


Capturing moments like these are priceless.

Capturing special moments. Didn't they try to do that with the Polaroid? We used to stuff them into big photo albums that no one wanted to open, unless they were in it of course. We stashed away quotes, scrap books (which some still do, and then came Pinterest) and tried to keep memories alive. Aren't we doing that now? I can't tell you how grateful I am that my father let me film him while he was getting his hair cut by my mother and sister. You can see that video here. Usually, he'd curse the living daylights outa' me and tell me to get lost if he saw any camera around. But one day while we were talking, he was talking about my writing and asked, "Deb, can you write a book about all of my stories?" From funny to gruesome, his stories always brought the party together, or had you stuck sitting with him until he was finished. I never did get around to writing that book for him…yet, but he let me capture him on film, happy, laughing, joking and telling his wacky stories and even let me post it onto Youtube. He said to my mother (and you can hear this on the video) "Hey Ro, we're gonna be on da' internet!" There was something strange that day, perhaps a different energy or a feeling of "knowing" --- as if I was taking this video for a reason. Right before I filmed him, Mom looked up at this huge fur tree that an old friend of hers planted in our backyard. It had died and needed to be cut down. There were no more pine needles left on it -- just old crumbly branches. She looked at me and said, "I think that's an omen. Something's gonna happen or change."

On a lighter note, my brother-in-law always says, "I don't get why you need to take photos of your food!" For one, I'm a foodie and I love to cook. I started a cooking blog over at Deb's Cucina (check it out) and now, one of the biggest reasons why I take a photo of my dish is because of my blog. I have everything from my pre-Paleo days, from pasta dishes to steak, lamb, chicken, fish and clams. Some recipes are usually inspired by my parents and tweaked by my own likings and most are my own concoctions. So if you see me cooking and hear "snap" --- you'll know why. It's funny because there's this commercial that makes me laugh. The mother is complaining to her son on Skype about all the food pics he posts up. "Why eggs? They're EGGS, Timothy!" But I can't help it. I go about life capturing all I can, because you never know when you'll see that special place again, have that special meal again, or even, see that special someone again. Capture it all and if someone complains about it, tell em' not to log onto your page. Happy posting y'all.

For more of Deb's articles, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her cooking blog for some of her famous recipes!