Social media: Ruining face-to-face communication one "like" at a time. I can’t completely decide if social media has ruined or rebuilt our generation. We are (almost) all so dependent upon technology in our everyday lives. It’s a little ironic because as I am writing this, I am secluding myself to use technology. I can’t remember the last time that I had dinner with my friends where the conversation paused and we didn’t all get on our phones at some point. It’s pathetic that we choose to find entertainment in a brain sucking device rather than in each other. However, without all the technology that we have, so many of us would be oblivious to what is happening in society, we would lose relationships, and most of all, we would be SO bored when we lay in bed before we go to sleep.
Social media makes some people so concerned about what others think of them, turning us into an egocentric society. We get reassurance based off of how many likes or retweets we get. We pause memories to take a snapchat, only for the documented picture to disappear in 24 hours. It has turned us into such a vain society that relies on self-assurance from other people. I know that if I uploaded a selfie and got no likes, I would be a little unsettled. Social media has made us too dependent on other people's opinions on what is cool, funny or attractive. It's actually pretty disturbing.
I firmly believe that we have allowed social media to ruin actual social interactions. However, without twitter, no one would know how (un)funny I am. The internet is the easiest way to meet new people, even though you’re probably not meeting the real version of someone online. We are the idealized versions of ourselves. No one is themselves when they can hide behind a computer screen, which is why social media is so toxic. It allows people to be petty and fight online because people can't actually deal with their problems face to face. Here's a tip: deal with your problems in real life, otherwise you will be in a whirlwind of incessant drama.
People will be so big & bold on the internet. They’re unafraid because nobody can be virtually punched in the face, although, I certainly wish they could. People will say the most repulsive things because it’s the internet, you can get away with anything. It's sickening because I want to know the real versions of people, but I can’t because in social situations, they're glued to their phone. And here’s what sucks the most: I am beyond guilty of this. There have been so many missed connections because it is so easy to resort to our phones when the conversation dies down. We exhaust one media and go to the next until we have watched everyone’s snapchat stories twice.
It’s crazy to think that when our parents were younger, they had no cell phones. They couldn’t text each other all day or find out any piece of information with the touch of a button, things that we so easily take for granted. Our parents had to write thesis papers with no google searches. I have mad respect for them, but I can’t tell if I pity or envy their simplistic, non-technological teenage years. If they wanted to ask someone out, they had to actually go up and talk to them, there was no sliding in the DM's. They had to have real life conversations instead of snapchatting all day. They couldn’t flirt in the form of liking each other’s Instagram pictures. It's weird to think that people back then had to actually communicate in real time….
Even though I could argue all day about why social media is terrible, it also has some fantastic qualities. It helps keep connections with people from high school that we never text, but still want to keep up with. With a simple search button, it is ultra convenient to creep on people without them even knowing. (Admit it, we all do it.) Social media has broadened our horizons and allowed us to see aspects of social movements that we would have never even heard of otherwise. It helps us find events in our areas and meet new people. Without the internet, we wouldn’t know half of the artists we love to listen to, we wouldn't have the same sense of style, and we probably wouldn’t even be the same people we are today. So many things would be totally different, it is just up to us to decide if we want the internet to overrun our actual lives.
Obviously, social media is what you make it. You can either be completely unpresent and glued to your phone, or you can remember that social media is for when you're alone. It is a way to be antisocially social. So next time you want to pull out your phone while you're with friends, just remember that you are contributing to the lack of conversation, and if you would all just put your phones down for a minute, you would be surprised by the amount of things you have to say.
