Writing.com's Writing Prompt

A long time ago, in the days before mobile phones, we would just start to play. We would play in the streets. We would ride bikes around town. We would stay outside until it got dark. When it got dark, we would grab flashlights and play until we were exhausted. We didn’t make plans. We didn’t care who showed up, or how many of us were there. We just played. And we enjoyed ourselves. We were the kids who owned the town. We were kids who were free to be kids. We didn’t have electronic leashes. We were allowed to make mistakes. We were allowed to scrape our knees. And when we did, we would keep playing. When we got home, we would get a Band-Aid, and be out there again the next day. We played. And we used our imaginations. We were outside. And we loved it.
Now, kids see going outside as a punishment. To get unplugged from electronics means to miss out on what someone else is doing. Facebook and Twitter are taking away our freedom, our imaginations. They are replacing our childhood feelings of freedom with jealousy about a post from a moment in everyone else’s life. Everyone is out there now with their pictures and their posts and tweets showing off how great their life is.
The real secret is to stop posting everything. As kids, we would live for the moment. We would devote all of our attention to whatever game we were playing. And afterwards, we would look forward to the next game. As adults, we look back at what fun it was and think it was a once in a lifetime experience. It cheapens the whole experience.
Live for the moment. Let your inner child out. I know that’s cliché, but it’s the truth. Let go of your electronic leashes. Don’t worry about posting what you did on Facebook or Tweeting about every moment of your day. Every time you post, or tweet, or text, you miss out on other moments.

I saw this writing prompt on the home screen. So I opened up Word and started typing. I typed until I didn't know what to type next. I didn't edit anything, I didn't delete anything. I just wrote. Streaming consciousness is awesome. I may come back and edit this. I may use this to get me going again in the future. I may let this sit without doing anything from now on. But I enjoyed this. And I wanted to share it.