Social media – Good or Bad?

'The question of our society having lost touch with each other and having lost the ability to communicate outside of all the technological gadgets available is one that rears its head more and more today as technology becomes more accessible and ubiquitous.

 

When I think about it –I’m kind of torn between the two.  In the one hand – Yes, I do encourage my family and friends to spend quality time with each other without our faces buried in our various social media contraptions.  

 

We need to spend time in parks, at the pool or beach and actively do stuff together which does not require the available technology – and I do that. But on day 3 of a seasonal deluge when going out is not an option and the customary cabin-fever would kick in, I thank Hephaestus for these modern distractions.

 

On the other hand, I do sometimes feel that with the advent of WhatsApp, sms and social media – it has in some way refined our communications. Let me explain….before social media, a conversation would usually just be 2 or 3  talking heads and, feel free to test this out for yourself next time you are having a conversation,  a lot of the time it will just be 2 people each with their own agenda taking turns to support and amplify their own conviction . Neither one of them is keen to submit to the other person’s point of view or share an unsupported idea in order to enrich the conversation. 

 

With social media, however, before you speak (interact) you have an opportunity to digest what it is the other person has said, to go back to either the text or video and analyse how you personally relate to it.  Only then do you respond. You are under no pressure to respond immediately to avoid an uncomfortable silence or seem unengaged.

 

This time has allowed us to assimilate what has truly been communicated and really think through what we feel about a topic and how you want to contribute to the interchange and even if you want to engage at all.

 

Just the act of ‘proof’ reading your response allows you the opportunity to edit or censor what you are saying.  THEN we can share these thoughts through the social media interaction. Just the act of ignoring a tweet or Facebook update is an unspoken emancipation from the drivel and balderdash you would have to endure if you were physically in each other’s company.

 

There is also the implicit understanding that you have more licence to venture into social quagmires through your avatar than one would dare to go in the flesh.

 

For better or worse, these techno-accoutrements with their social trappings are here to stay. Like any titillating diversion, the responsibility to use it or let it use you is all up to you. '