Has social media hurt or helped us? Its very difficult to say something is an absolute, but it has definitely changed the world and how we interact. I noticed this a few years ago, well i’ve been noticing it, but it really hit me, when I was teaching. Facebook and Snap Chat have become big topics of discussion, people discuss this online world as if it were real; it’s not. People are very different online, mainly because it is so much easier to type something than to actually say it to someone. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with texting, there are individuals that will text you when you call them, because it is much easier to be tough in a text than if you got them on the phone. This is a total lack of ability to confront life.
People are literally losing social skills, I have noticed it not only in myself but in my peers as well. Brielle and I went out to dinner the other night and when we both realized we were on our phones we shockingly put them away. If you are not mentally as well as physically with a person, what is the point to it at all? We are so distracted from who is sitting across from us, because we are on mobile Facebook or texting. Try texting infant of someone from my parents generation, mid conversation, and try not to get struck down from your rudeness. We have created unsocial and rude habits.
I have to preface this by saying that I do love social media, because it allows the little guy to compete. However, it may be time to think about where are we living our real lives? Are they being lived out online or in social interaction in person. There is nothing that substitutes for a great conversation, which has been with humanity for eons.
There was a study done recently by a major restaurant chain, due to a large string of complaints from customers about the slowness of their servers and cold food. What they found is shocking. They took a Security video from 2014 and compared it to one from 2000, they found their servers were not at fault and actually working harder. Patrons proceeded to sit down and go right to their phones, and make the server come back 2-3 times before their order could actually taken. The interim was filled with Facebook checkins and selfies. Then food was delivered but repeatedly sent back as cold, due to people taking pictures of their food and doing some more Facebooking.
Social media is an awesome tool, but look at what is happening to our social interactions and you will be very concerned. Try going a whole day without your cell phone and computer and see how that goes. This big world is getting a whole lot smaller, that’s both good and bad. Let’s do our best to make it a good thing.