A bit of a different post today, so please excuse my rambling. Firstly I would just like to point out that I use Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest/Email on an almost daily basis, and I think they are great tools for blogging and keeping in touch with people etc. This is just a thought I was having earlier today about the not so great side of social networking, and decided to share it with you all :)
I was sitting on the train on my morning commute earlier, staring absent mindedly into space, when I happened to glance around the carriage and was greeted by the sight of literally every single passenger on some sort of technology device.
Whether it be a phone, Ipad, Kindle, or some other form of tablet, you name it and they were on it. Then because I was extra aware of it, I started noticing it everywhere. People walking on the streets bumping into each other because they're too busy looking down at their mobiles, others with the phones attached to their ears. Not that I can talk, I am totally guilty of all this too. I constantly walk with my phone in hand, even when i'm carrying a bag, I still have to have my phone in my hand. If I think i've lost it, within a few seconds i've gone into a blind panic, heart thumping, only to realize I am actually holding the bloody thing in my hand! (I've been known to do this on quite a few occasions i'm shamed to say) .
So it got me to thinking, why ARE we so hooked to these little pieces of plastic? Would the world end if we left our phones at home for the day? Would twitter/facebook go into meltdown if we hadn't signed in for one day? The answer is obviously, no. It would all still be there. What is it that has made our generation and generations to come so dependant on technology?
Like I said earlier,
I totally get that Facebook is good for keeping in touch with people and also getting back in touch with old friends/family. And twitter is entertaining to find out the latest goss with your fave celeb, and especially to keep up to date with the blogging world! That's what I use it for anyway. But we have gone way past that now. People, including myself, refreshing twitter and facebook for updates every few minutes, giving our poor thumbs and fingers repetitive strain from texting and tweeting all day long. Often, and i'm sure i'm not the only one that does this, but when I'm already out with friends, I still check my phone all the time. How bad is that?! It's like we've lost touch with the real world and are more focused on virtual relationships.After doing some research, I think a few of the main reasons is, the power it gives people to communicate instantly. And it allows people to express themselves freely, which alot of people don't feel comfortable doing in person. For example, you would be classed as obnoxious and annoying if you spoke loudly in a quiet waiting room or on public transport, etc. You are expected to sit and be quiet. The objective being to avoid negative attention which could lead to embarrassment/shame, which obviously no one wants to feel. But social media allows people to freely voice their 100% honest opinions without physically being judged by it. There's also a 'showing off' element to this as well. I've noticed people, again including myself, have a tendency to use social media as a way of outlining the positive aspects of of themselves and to publicize how amazing their lives are. It gives us a sense of self-satisfaction. Call me old fashioned, but sometimes I feel almost nostalgic for the days when having a phone was still a novelty. When friends had to call your house phone to speak to you, or going out without a phone was considered perfectly normal. When people used actual words and not abbreviations for everything.
While I obviously enjoy social networking most of the time, it can get a bit overwhelming when you are overloaded with it, hence why I felt I wanted to post this. I would love to know what others think about it too.
What are your views? Do you think we are a society with an unhealthy dependancy on social networking or do you think it has been a good development?
