By now you're used to this, right?

I haven't done much of anything with my social media accounts lately. Sure I'll throw out a few tweets here and there, or diddle around on Facebook, but nothing particularly productive. Aren't we all a little too plugged in now? I think about this every so often, how much we've grown to rely on technology in such a short span of time. Like everything, there are pros and cons, of course.

 Back when I was a kid, when our family got together, we'd all sit together at the dinner table or in the living room or even outside. Maybe the TV would be on, but we'd still be conversing. The past few years I've noticed suddenly everybody is sitting around with their phones or tablets. Sure, conversations still happen, but they're interspersed between checking emails, texts, Facebook, or searching Youtube videos, etc. We're all distracted. We've joked that we're one step shy of texting conversations to each other but really, it'd be sad if it sunk to that level, wouldn't it?

I have to wonder when this obsessive phone checking habit became normal behavior. You see it everywhere, too. People don't bat an eyelash at a mom glued to her phone while she's at the park with her kids rather than playing with them. Or a group of friends who go out to eat and spend half their time taking pictures of the event to post on Instagram rather than simply enjoying the meal and company. Never mind the constant oversharing through all the various social media outlets--things that years ago, it wouldn't have occurred to any of us to share, but now flood all of our newsfeeds.

I'm not really complaining. I just wonder, why do we feel the need to do it? What is so compelling? And most of all, are we all beginning to miss out on real life experiences because of it?