One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that social media, email, and texting (generally speaking) does not “fill your emotional bucket”. They are simply no substitute for in-person meetings or phone calls with family and friends. There is something about the emotional elements expressed by people’s voices and facial expressions that trigger much more heartfelt exchanges.
We must be wary of confusing communication with connection.
I suspect this is probably why people who primarily rely on social media, email, and text for communications, as I have done for at least the past decade, have a higher incidence of depression. Depression causes isolation, but I think isolation also causes depression. It’s cyclical or self-reinforcing in this way. Therefore, those of us who suffer from isolation and depression really have to _make_ ourselves go out there and interact with others, make phone calls and so on, until this becomes the new norm.
Caveat: if you find that interacting with humans via voice or in-person is draining rather than uplifting, it’s probably a sign that they’re not who you should ideally choose to interact with, or you might be draining to others and are experiencing the result. How to fix? We have to give love to receive love, but this can feel almost impossible when we have no love for ourselves, which is how depressed people feel. But it can start with simple politeness, smiles, kind words and gestures, and refraining from anger or impatience. That can be enough to get the love and gratitude flowing.
I like to read, write, teach, travel, code, lift weights, play music, listen to music, make things out of wood, watch scifi movies, and play board games and computer games. My interests are broad, spanning science, engineering, architecture, technology, nutrition, environment, psychology, health, fitness, finance, business, and economics, but my main passions are spirituality, space settlement, and veganism. My ambition is to be a successful writer and speaker, and to create a company to produce awesome science fiction books, movies, and games that inspire people about the future. Eventually, I would also like to create vegan cafes and urban farms.
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