Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Fad or Way of Life?
Social media is definitely not just a fad. There are different facets of social media, apps, websites, etc. which come and go, however social media itself is hugely popular and very adamant about staying around. So stubborn in fact that it involves a ridiculous amount of our time, distracting us from family interactions, class, work, driving - the list goes on. As I am writing this blog post I am conversing with a friend on Facebook Messenger and sending pictures to another through Snapchat, and yes, when I get bored or stuck on this post I will probably check my Instagram and Twitter accounts to procrastinate.
Yes, I recognize that social media is really only popular in places in which we have access to internet or cellular data - however in these areas it has taken over and is reigning powerfully. Children today are learning how to use apps on tablets and utilizing them more than they will go outside. My five year old niece knows how to operate her iPad better than my father (a man who can take apart a computer and put it back together), and prefers it to playing Barbies or using her imagination in some other way.
Don't get me wrong, social media can be a great way to connect with people who are far away or whom we haven't spoken to in years. Social media can even bring people together - my friend met her boyfriend online, he lived in Ireland before meeting her and is now here in Canada because of her.
I'm not so sure that it is the biggest change since the industrial revolution, I mean, we are simply more obsessed with ourselves than we ever have been before, but it isn't really new technology, it is just our attachment to it that is causing it to be such a big uproar. The Industrial Revolution came with massive changes to the world - a good chunk for the positive (though of course there were downsides) - leading us to discover new technologies, new ways of life. The social media craze, although I feel it is here to stay and will only get more popular (I mean, how long ago was MSN.... and tell me, what exactly is Facebook Messenger or Skype?), isn't doing anything for the human race except showing us how narcissistic we all are...
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Not going to lie, I completely agree with all you said. Great points you have included.
ReplyDeleteWe've all become so attached to technology that we are forgetting the big picture and the lives that are outside of the little hand held devices that we all cannot seem to let go...I of course being a guilty victim of this..
You can almost go as far to say Social Media is a blessing as well as a curse. A blessing because you can meet people (as you stated your friend meeting her boyfriend), but a curse because we are so indulged with what is going on in the online world rather then our own.
Looking forward to seeing your future posts,
cheers!
I do agree with your points on the youth of today and technology, however, I do not agree with your closing statement saying that it isn't doing anything for the human race . It provides jobs for various industries, like programmers and graphic designers, as well as a way for small businesses to have an online presence. If it were to disappear over night, hundreds of thousands of people would be out of a job. You definitely have the right idea, but you have to look beyond just the consumer aspect of social media.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work!
Agreed 100%! There are different fads within social media, but social media in its essence is not a fad. It's way more permanent than that. I'm pretty sure Toys R Us sells kid friendly tablets, which I think is so awesome. The next generation is going to be so technologically literate, they will probably create the next big shift. Or at least innovate the platforms we already have to a point we don't understand.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you! While I think that social media has indeed made several changes to the world (if anything it has made the world into a seemingly smaller place), it had definately not made the impact that the industrial revolution. If anything I would think that social media is simply a smaller part of what I call the 'internet revolution', simliar to steam power in the Industrial Revolution.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I agree about your remark that it isn't social media that's a big craze, it's our obsession with it that's creating the uproar, I must completely disagree with the concluding note that it's all a product of, or the generator of, narcissism. Social media has connected and aided the world in ways incomparable to any other. Consider the global awareness it brings on a massive scale to say the least. The crisis in Egypt, Ukraine, Israeli/Palestinian war, to give an upscale example although there are several others. The sufferers of these crises spread the word about the reality of what was happening so much so that it brought an uproar of voices all over the world and compelled other nations to speak up and aid by either items or by placing sanctions because it would shame those governments to do nothing. This is a platform that has provided the world with an opportunity to be together, in celebration and in grief; the phrase, "the world is one" has a new meaning, because through social media it truly is. Anything that happens anywhere that concerns enough people will no longer be a small issue, or an issue of a certain group of people, or an issue of a nation, it will be an international issue. And the world will speak, as many voices, and as one.
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