Continued...

crafted from behind their screens, so they keep the screens ever before their eyes, living vicariously through a shadow of their own design.

It’s tragic how quickly most of us got sucked into the frenetic world of reminding everyone that we’re still awesome before our posts get buried by competitors—I mean, friends and followers.

Think about how we got here. There was a time when we didn’t bother people with our mundane daily activities; even a time when bringing up our own accomplishments at the dinner table would leave the family silent and mortified: Did you really think nobody would notice you digging for praise?

Remember? We didn’t even take selfies. Eventually we started seeing selfies on other people’s Myspace pages, and the first few times we tried it for ourselves we had to turn our flip phones or our clunky Nikons or disposable Kodaks around and hope our whole head was in the shot.

And even when our phones started coming with front-facing cameras, it was devastatingly embarrassing to be caught in a selfie. But somewhere along the line it became such a habit that we forgot it was shameful and will do it in broad daylight in front of the froyo place.

And that’s just too bad.

Maybe one of the reasons we succumbed so quickly is because social media personas are much easier to keep up than real-life personas.

Instead of actually being good at something, we can count on our followers to stop by and tell us that we’re good at everything (especially since we were only posing with—not using—the equipment when we took that gym selfie).

And in return, we’ll dutifully and robotically scroll through our feed and leave "Likes" and empty praise with screen-coma abandon. The muscle memory in our thumbs can find the "reaction buttons" no matter what language the post’s in.

But, whatevs. Right? It’s all good?

LOL?

No, actually it’s not all good and not really so LOL, either. What’s happening to us? Where’d all the adults go?

And trad cats are no exception; sometimes we’re the worst offenders, maybe just because we should know better. So, why don’t we put on our traddy pants and grow up?

We can see through this manipulation.

We can be different. Can’t we?

Catholic adults—yes, even us millennials—can start pushing back against this selfie-fueled popularity contest right now. Sounds like a wonderfully countercultural thing to do. Hipster in the true sense, BYO mustache and mason jar!

I think we can start by cutting down on our status updates. This is actually doable so long as before we post we remember one thing: As much as we don’t actually care about our Facebook friends’ lunch and pedicure color, they don’t care about ours. So, what’s the point of the exercise.

I’ll make you a deal. Sometimes I travel. I like it, but you don’t give a rat’s patootie about my travel (and you shouldn’t). So, I promise never to post vacay pics or ask if anyone can recommend a good café in Paris (READ: I’m here and you’re NOT) if you promise never to post another Throw-Back-Thursday photo of you in high school looking all New Kids on the Block.

Nobody cares, except maybe your parents.

But really, no matter how many times we hit Like, you’re not a new kid anymore (but it’s okay because you can be other things, like "dignified").

Deal?

And let’s not forget that posts run on likes and comments. So, no more reacting unless we mean it.

No more giving attention in order to receive attention in return. Let’s try to be a little more self-reliant and a little less self-absorbed.

Otherwise, we might as well just go right ahead and admit to the world that we have a big, gaping hole in our hearts that we’re seeking to fill with affirmation.

This is especially important for Catholics to remember, because in a world that’s lost all direction, we’ve been blessed with tools that point the way—but they’re not up there on your toolbar.

Our lives as followers of Jesus Christ and children of God should fill us with the ultimate purpose, and we can rest assured that nothing on social media needs to reaffirm that, nor can it. Jesus said that unless we become as little children we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. But I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to smear spaghetti sauce all over our faces and eat Tide Pods on our vlogs.

Besides, He was talking about innocence and humility, and I think Facebook has banned all that.

I think maybe social media has been making fools of us all along. Whaddya say, peeps—should we unlike Facebook and move on? ■