In Defense of Social Media
听听听听 While I was scratching my head, trying to write this column, I received a Facebook friend request from my 87-year-old aunt (Hi, Aunt Ella!), who is getting acquainted with her new iPad.
听听听听 For all of the nasty, unkind, and unfortunately, true stuff we hear about Twitter trolling, Facebook tracking, and the inevitable loss of privacy we all endure as a byproduct of social media use, I believe social media sites also possess some profound benefits.
听 听听听A question that I was asked a lot (and am still sometimes asked) when I first returned to rural Saskatchewan after decades in Calgary, was whether I missed life in the city. My answer was-and still remains-that if I could change one thing, I'd have 鈥渕y people鈥� all in one place with me.
听听听听 For all of its inherent flaws, social media sites allow me that one wish.
听听听听 I can keep up with family, friends, work pals, former school mates, and all of the people that matter to me-as long as they're on Facebook or Twitter. And yes, I do realize that really important (read: confidential) stuff doesn't usually make the cut as far as status updates are concerned. However, both happy and heartrending life events often do. I love seeing my dear ones' vacations, weddings, grandkids, graduations, relocations...well, you get the idea. And yes, it is a somewhat scattered and superficial way to keep in touch, but I think it's still better to hang onto fond relationships loosely, than let them drift away entirely.
听听听听 For most of us (especially here in wrtten-content country), Facebook and Twiiter also lets we shy, retiring, writerly types promote our stuff relatively painlessly.
听 听 听For volunteers, it's immediate and invaluable-especially in an emergency situation like the Calgary floods.
听听听听 And I know two profoundly physically-disabled people who can engage easily on Twitter, because technology allows them to enter the fray from their nursing home beds.
听听听听 It can be challenging to keep ahead of Facebook's ever-shifting privacy settings, but this dilemma can usually be solved with the judicious use of common sense (which is a challenge for yours truly, but that's another column...). For every awkward overshare (which can be wildly entertaining, admit it), there's an equal opportunity for social engagement that isn't limited to geographical location, physical ability, or even cash constraints. As long as someone has access to a computer-available gratis at most public libraries-a Facebook and/or Twitter account is easy to set up and use.
听听听听 Social media is just a tool. Sites aren't good or bad, it's how you use them that counts. And did I mention you can even follow your favourite weekly newspaper on Facebook and Twitter?
听听听 Just a suggestion...
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Anti-Social Media
听 听 听 听 听 听 Though social media does have some advantages; technology and the ways in which the countless number of social media out there is being used isn't necessarily for the best.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Oftentimes people enter the social media world, a very public arena, from the comforts of their own home: while lying in their bed or, yes, even in the bathroom. People often take their phones out to play games or go through Facebook as they sit on their 鈥渢hrone.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 The more we consume social media, the more it would seem that face-to-face communication skills become less important leaving kids unable to effectively interact in social situations. Instead of talking to someone about a problem they'll text or message them because there that face-to-face interaction isn't there. People will be more harsh and messages are oftentimes misinterpreted because the majority of human communication is done through body language and tone of voice, what someone says is actually very little of the process.
听听听听听听听听听听听 On social media people have hundreds of friends, but are they really friends? People who become wrapped up in what they're doing on social media can also find themselves very lonely in real life.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Additionally, people have begun to find their sense of self worth wrapped up in how many likes they receive on an Instagram photo. I've seen kids today who receive over 130 likes for a photo, while others receive under 10.听 All of a sudden the post that only 10 people or less liked disappears and a new one replaces it as they attempt to garner as many likes as they can.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Also, as someone I know says, 鈥淲hen you're in the room, be in the room.鈥� Today you'll walk into a restaurant and see people having dinner together, but at least one person, if not all of them, are sitting on their phones. It's created a distraction.
听听听听听听听听听听听 With everything being able to go so fast with social media and technology as well it would seem that our attention spans have been affected, making more people than ever seem to almost have attention deficit disorder. In fact I read in a BBC article that people actually have, on average, an attention span of eight seconds, which is one second less than a goldfish. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine humans' attention spans have dropped from 12 seconds to eight between 2000 and 2013.
听听听听听听听听听听听 The sheer amount of information that people share through social media is astounding too. You can find someone's birthday, where they live, and even if they plan to go on a holiday because their status will read something like, 鈥淏oarding the flight today, can't wait to get to Italy.鈥� The conversation below the status then goes on about how long they'll be gone, etc...
听听听听听听听听听听听 There鈥檚 the chance of predators stalking people online. While others are found stealing someone鈥檚 profile picture and making a new profile pretending to be that person. Many people abuse social media in some form putting others at risk because of it.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Another annoying piece of social media is that people will sometimes find you through Facebook or Twitter or your email, contacting you for work reasons, and will expect you to answer instantly. These messages can blur the line of work time and personal time depending on when you're answering them.
听听听听听听听听听听听 However, with the world headed in the direction it is, social media is almost inevitable in some form; but, it's important to not let it invade every aspect of your life.
听听听听听听听听听听听 As the internet quotes Albert Einstein, though I don't think it's ever been proven, 鈥淚 fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.鈥�
