Right when I went to begin this blog post I decided to check my Facebook… Twenty minutes later I finally started my blog after I had managed to do a significant amount of creeping. Facebook, as well as the plethora of other social media outlets absorb an obnoxious amount of our free time. According to marketingcharts.com, the average social media user spends 3+ hours per day on various sites. This made me actually think about the various times throughout the day I tend to pull out my handy dandy smart phone or laptop and browse Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. At the bus stop in the morning, in between classes, sometimes in class (never in Digital Marketing), walking home, procrastinating on homework, bored at work, & falling asleep a night. After thinking about it, it is actually a bit concerning. How much is that actually impacting my psyche as well as my ability to socialize?
Social media has begun to perpetuate false relationships with the people around us. Social media allows us to interact with people we would not necessarily have a relationship with. Are these “friends”, “connections”, or “followers” really that important?
My generation in particular has grown to believe that non-face-to-face contact is a perfectly appropriate form of communication. We seem to have forgotten how to operate in a social environment without picking up our devices for comfort. On various occasions I have been having a conversation with someone when the next thing I realize they are on their phone answering that “oh-so-important” text…”
What sort of impact does this have on our social capabilities? We have become so use to being able to erase or edit what we want to actually say that actually having a conversation with someone we may not be familiar or comfortable with seems like a daunting task.
So, what does this mean when it comes to the future of our interpersonal relationships? Is the standard for personal relationships forever changed by technology or is time to realize that the person standing right there in front of you is who really matters.
Sources:
http://markstaton.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/pew-facebook.pdf
Ashley Novak 