Social
media is killing us. Just kidding. But it
is completely
changing the way we socially interact with others. Friends on
Facebook are completely different from friends in real life. An
article from Forbes talks about authenticity vs superficiality, and
on Facebook, everything is superficial. This however is a trade off
for speed and efficiency. With this in mind it bears the question
“how does social media interaction really
differ from conventional interaction?”
There
is something about talking to someone online that just feels so
impersonal. What it boils down to is simple: body language.
According to the Forbes article “A whopping 93% (of interaction) is
based on nonverbal body language .“ Sarcasm for example, doesn't
translate very well onto the online forum. Emotions and attitudes in
general are masked by online interaction. What we are left with is
the illusion of whatever the writer wishes to be seen.
I
have probably 80 to 100 friends on Facebook at any given moment. I
consider a friend anyone you could spend time with, whether it be
having a cup of coffee, eating a meal together, or just hanging out.
In the social media realm, I rarely directly communicate with others.
Online, I am mostly a spectator or 'lurker.' So out of those 80-ish
friends, I will probably only see 5 or so on a regular basis. The
rest could be considered acquaintances. Interacting with these
people isn't even as complex as saying “hello” in passing. Now
to get someones attention you simply have to “poke” them. Even
birthdays have become saturated by social media. Facebook actually
sends you a reminder of your friends birthdays and offers to send an
e-card on your behalf. This kind of interaction really takes the
human out of humanity.
Don't
have time to call everyone on your friends list when throwing a
party? No problem, on Facebook it's as easy as creating the event
and selecting all of your friends. Done. But honestly, when I'm
invited to anything on Facebook, I normally don't even read the
invite. I feel like if the event was important enough, I'd get a
phone call. Honestly, I'd be ok with a text message. Often times, I
go for weeks without reading Facebook invites only to find out most
of the events have already happened.
Walk
into any public place where people have to wait for a few minutes.
Most of them will be buried on their mobile devices. In these times,
striking up a conversation with a stranger is just weird behavior to
most younger people. I read a social experiment that a guy did about
talking to strangers in public. He found most people would ignore
his greetings and bury themselves deeper into their phones. Out of
all of the people he spoke to, only the elderly and one lone
gentleman would actually carry on a conversation with him.
To
say social media hasn't changed the way we interact would be a lie.
Most of the people who read this will remember the pre-internet days
and know small talk with strangers happened everyday. Whether you
were buying groceries, renting a movie, or waiting in line at the
bank, it wasn't uncommon to speak to someone about their day. Now,
thoughts have been relegated to 140 characters or less and personal
interaction is dead.
-Josh Eldridge
6-10-14
for the generation to come I feel for them, how are they going to be able to figure out what real communication is. They don't deal with interaction all that well, don't through in a moment of conflict resalution, man in trouble there. My children I have to get them to pick up the phone and call instead of just texting everyone, though that may not be everything to solve it, but at least sure helps keep them away from just texting every response of life.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to say where I am at on this one, I do agree that social media as definitely made a impact on our daily interactions with people. On the other hand it has kept me closer with all my friends. or even people I just meet and became friends with. A lot of times when I see someone I will actually bring up a conversation about something that I saw on FB.
ReplyDelete