Social networking’s intent is to connect people around the
world and allow us to communicate more effectively, but is it really
working? While it is true that sites
like Facebook and Twitter enable us to talk to our friends and family who may
live far away from us, it can make you somewhat less social when you are
interacting with others in real life.
Sitting behind a computer and typing away might make you less
comfortable when you have to actually talk in person.
Just think about it. This generation is obsessed with
knowing what others are doing at any given hour of the day and wanting others
to know what we are doing. This is
called FOMO (pronounced FO-MO), a growing phenomenon which means “fear of
missing out.” Here’s a few interesting
statistics:
- · 23% of people go on Twitter more than 10 times a day
- · 90% of 18-29 year olds sleep with their phone in or beside their bed
- · The average worker checks his or her email 36 times an hour
Random people were quoted to have said, “Sometimes I wake up
in the night and reach for my phone so I can do a Tweet,” and “I take pictures
of my food, my feet…pretty much anything and post it online.” Much of society is convinced that they can’t
live without social media and tend to overuse it.
While social networking is useful and a lot of fun, cutting
down your usage (or if you want to make a drastic change, simply not using them
at all) can be beneficial to you. First
of all, your self-esteem will be boosted.
When you’re not constantly comparing yourselves to your peers and
reading about everyone’s accomplishments, you will feel a lot better about
yourself. You also save yourself the
trouble of getting into silly arguments over petty things on the Internet. Finally, you won’t be missing out on a lot of
life’s great moments because of the fact that you’re too plugged into
technology. Now, don’t get me wrong,
social networking is a great part of life, but know where to draw the line.
I completely agree that social media does take over our lives. Who ever checks their social media on an hourly basis may even be addicted to internet. The only question I would ask is the how often someone checks their email for work related purposes or for personal reasons? During our study for internet misuse in the workforce I have found that people check their social media during business hours which causes problems for being productive in the workforce.
ReplyDeleteAdam De Esch
I believe that they meant they check it for work purposes. And I agree, checking social media during work hours can definitely cause a huge decrease in productivity.
DeleteI agree with your observations and was not surprised by the statistics you shared. I myself am guilty of sleeping with my phone by my bed. Often social media can be a further disturbance as I am disrupted by email or text alerts. But, I do like the feeling of being connected.
ReplyDeleteMost recently I have had a friend deactivate all of his social media accounts to be able to concentrate on his senior thesis. I agree that it can be a distraction, but do not see myself giving it up anytime soon due the convenience and ease of communication it provides.
Social Networking has gotten to the point where people are more concerned with knowing what is going on in their networks rather than enjoying their own lives. I can't tell how many times I've heard someone say that they need to check in on facebook or post a picture and update to make people jealous or to let it be known how interesting their life is. I really wish something would happen that will help us get away from this culture.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Zach Radmanesh
Well, I fit in to 3 of those statistical categories. I'm on Facebook or Twitter at least 10 times a day and although I just aged out of that age bracket I do sleep with my phone beside my bed. But unlike what Zach mentioned above, I don't make posts or share pictures to make people jealous of what's going on in my life. Talk about conceited?!?!? And if you envy my life, you must have a pretty crappy one. On another note I do, however, know a couple that is currently engaged to be married shortly that use social media to communicate while they're in the same room, and I've heard of other people doing the same thing. Is that really that common now days? If so, that's just proof positive that social media really is having a negative effect on our social skills.
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, I currently have a family member serving in Afghanistan (spelling?) and were it not for social media, contact would be rather drab. Thanks to skype, facebook, twitter, and others long distance communication is definitely much quicker and much more cost effective.
Great blog posts and nice blog, by the way!
The majority of the world has really overused social media. Each year more and more people become facebook users and establish thier own twitter profiles. While this is obviously good for the business aspect of social media, in the end it can hurt the people who make up the social media outlets. I usually do not have the problem of having to check my facebook page every hour or every couple of hours. Sometimes I do check my facebook page every hour or so, just because I'm usually waiting on something else to do.
ReplyDeleteFrom a business standpoint, a facebook page can help market a company's name or image. I have a few freinds on my facebook page who are businesses, or corporations that constantly give me updated information about events, discounts, etc. This intern gives me the needed information I need to find the best deals or where to go out to eat one night. From a business view, checking in and updating your company's facebook page might be required from management. Facebook and social meadia in general has made people become addicted to these devices.
Andrew Smith
I had to laugh when I read this blog because I am one of those people who sleep with their phone in the bed. However, I don't check it or post anything during the middle of the night. I mainly sleep with my phone so I know where it is and I use it as an alarm clock. I would say you have a problem when you wake up in the middle of the night to use a social networking site. Regardless, I do think to some extent social networking is taking over our lives. Personally, I had to realize that while I was posting pictures and updates of something I was doing I was missing part of the whole experience. My girlfriend even commented one time that she would like it if I did not use my phone for the entire evening and just experience what we were doing. She was right. I was missing out. I was focusing my attention on social networking instead of my actual environment. I am truly grateful my girlfriend helped me realize this. Now when I am out doing something I interact with those around me. I don't miss things because I was updating my Facebook status. I get the whole experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree people use social networking to the point that it is becoming a sad life for some people. I have a Facebook, but I refuse to jump on to Tweeter. I do not feel that people need to know what I'm eating or what I'm doing 24/7. People are becoming obsessed with people knowing their lives. I post Facebook updates once in a while, but I do not feel compelled to do this everyday. I hate the people who constantly share pictures or those pictures that are supposed to be funny. I usually end up deleting people off of Facebook just because it becomes annoying. I thought that after getting a smart phone would change my use of social networking sites, but it has pretty much stayed the same. I feel like people are beginning to miss out on true life experiences and not enjoying the time they have face to face with their friends. I agree it is a good idea for people to cut back on their social networking usage.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post and I definitely agree with some of the points you made. I have seen so many people around me, including myself at some points, addicted to social media. I know that it has proven to be beneficial to me to just simply 'deactivate' every once in a while and take a break from social media. I know it tends to cut in on study time for me, and sometimes it is just necessary to cut it out. Also, I tend to get off of social media whenever the election is going on, or another big controversial subject, because I can't stand to see the hate being thrown around from both sides. Social media can be very useful, but should be used in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI understand and can relate to a lot of above comments and the statistics about online social media usage. In addition, I see the correlation between social skills dwindling and online time - it creates a profound question of where our generation will be in 20, 30 years.
ReplyDeleteOn a different and more positive note, since if I dwell long enough on the negatives of Facebook and Twitter I'd feel overwhelmed, my sister shared an interesting story about FB and Twitter being used as saving mechanisms.
BBC published an article about a high-tech bracelet. I've included the website for further perusal, but got excited when I heard the story. Imagine people around the world being able to save a life and improve the chances that someone does not get kidnapped because of the combined effort of social media users.
-Mary Alice Howard
That article was very interesting. Thanks for sharing! It is nice to see the positive effects of social media and that we can actually help keep people safe by using it.
DeleteI complete agree with your information, because i can definitely say that social media is addictive. Theres a point in the addiction that people cant pass one day without loggin in in their social accounts. This topic is very interesting because it can make you realized how social media takes time out of your live, it can be 1 to 2 hrs per day, but for some others is much more than that. Also I thinks that parents have to pay more attention what are their kids doing in their spare time, because these days kids have a wast variety social medias pages that they can hace access making them vulnerable from many dangers. I this that social media is taking over some peoples lives.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely agree with you here. Social media has exploded in the past decade and doesnt seem to be letting up any time soon. I often thought that it would never be a problem for me but as i have gotten older and older I realize that it does seem to be taking up more and more of my time. I never thought about it but I always keep my phone on my night stand every night just in case someone needs to contact me. In the future hopefully I will learn to control my time spent on faceboook or other social cites before it becomes a problem.
ReplyDelete