Technology promises us so many things, but does it deliver, and at what cost? Are all the notifications about things that really don’t matter and the expensive devices we have to get to increase our anxiety worth it in the long run?

This is a tough question we have to ask ourselves. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we’d run off and play without a care in the World and our parents just let us do it. Then came the Internet which made us all aware of the horrible things that happen around us. Next thing you know, we are no longer running off and playing for fear of what might happen.

This is not to say that we should not be aware of what happens around us, but do we really need it on our phone, our wrist, our laptop, and not to forget TV.

What about all the social media platforms? People obsess about following the lives of people they’ve never met and probably never will, or having as many strangers as possible follow them to boost a number that does nothing but remind you that someone else will always have more than you.

To what end? I bet most of the people you follow on social media you would never give a second glance or hello to in the real world.

That last point is particularly interesting when you consider how the Internet has allowed all the haters around the World to instantly ruin someone’s day by bullying them in the digital playground.

There are so many good things that can come from knowing what is happening around the World from people on these platforms sharing the knowledge. Great examples include natural disasters and public protests against unspeakable atrocities. Without these platforms to bring awareness, nothing would get better. Yet, this is pushed aside for the latest celebrity baby or break up.

Choose what you consume carefully, it may be making you a slave without realizing the consequences. Be sure to always question things and seek further information, do not take something as the truth until it is proven.

And remember, there is still a World outside of those little boxes and screens. It might be better than you remember it.

Since I started thinking and making notes on this post over a year ago we have seen lies and disinformation become the very obvious and unavoidable truth thanks to the technology used to spread it.

Now more than ever, we need to remember when we did our own research and educated ourselves rather than relying on others and allowing an algorithm to determine what we see and digest.

It is OK to question things, to not make snap decisions, and to go away and think about them before sharing them with others in a World of instant opinion and judgment. To declare a verdict before the dust has settled and analysis started.