No FACEBOOK Week Ritual

Rituals come from routine and they may change over time. When I was younger I used to pray before I slept and when I woke up. With the internet and new behavior, I tend to check my emails, update my last facebook status and turn off the computer. When I wake up, I turn on the computer, Check my emails and my facebook and then may be pray. Many rituals that prevail now relate to technology: Yoga routine on a smart phone, Wake up and check weather updates, or check your inbox and update your status.  Other rituals relate to the obsession with being thin: wake up and run on the treadmill, take your diet pills. Some relate to the pace of life, like wake up and get your morning boost of coffee. Rituals prevail with the society’s cultural influences: technology, fitness or alertness. Some rituals are prevalent in a certain time period only, like during football season or baseball season.

            Rituals do not just happen; they are developed and taught until they become a part of someone’s life. I would like to develop a no Facebook week in my school, and focus on building relationships face to face. There is such a disconnect among people yet we are one big happy family online. We have thoughts, ideas, and insights to post but nothing to say to a group of people. The internet phenomenon has brought amazing things but it is killing out interpersonal connections when we meet. The No Facebook week is to change the LOL into real laughter, and :) into a real smile. To change :( into real sympathy as we relate with other people. Humans are emotional beings but we are slowly becoming disconnected from our emotions and becoming machine like with our virtual relationships and no real relationships.

            Rituals are actions, that can be changed when we want to. Although they help us connect, when we know that there are people like us, and they provide meaning to our lives; they do not start from nothing. They are developed, taught, and redone until they become a part of our normal lives. They explain our beliefs. They are also vital to businesses. McDonalds understands the morning coffee ritual and incorporates it in their advertising. Knowing what people will do, can make you create products to facilitate their ritual. If the Church were up for it, there would be facebook confessions. However, since rituals carry a deeper meaning than the action, it embodies the belief, only a few rituals make the cut and become acceptable by many.