Week 1.
Date. 8/03/15


                                     Social media is causing a more isolated society.


                      

Introduction.

Technology  makes us more connected. We can stay in touch with our friends all the time on Facebook, Twitter and Tumble, and, of course, by texting. But are our smartphones actually getting in the way of real socializing? Could technology be making us more alone?

Body.

As social media, mobile devices and new technology get better equipped and designed to help keep us better connected, in some ways we grow further apart. To start we are able to add people to view our sites yet keeping them emotionally distant.  When we “friend” people on Facebook, we are keeping them at an emotional distance. This is true because as we document our lives on the Internet we are still keeping that barrier. Social media sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ allow us to document every second of our lives on their websites. We can include pictures to show where we are, whom we are with and what we are doing.  We can also use #hash-tags and those allow us to relate our post or picture, whatever piece we are referencing, to another website, post or photo. These tools allow us to look into the lives of others who are doing the same things we are.

The way social media sites are distancing people from each other include allowing us to read and look at pictures of peoples’ everyday lives; that we no longer feel the need to personally be involved in their life. We are offered the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. This leads to isolation and depression of all individuals because they don’t have any social interaction.  They turn to social media because they desire to be connected to one another yet there are obstacles preventing this from happening. The coffee shop meet ups to get together to catch up over the past week or month become obsolete due to the need to work longer hours, to make more money, to do more things. The hour long phone calls with friends from high school or college disappear because the idea that a text message or a post on their wall saying “I miss you” is all you have time for.  Social networks are more like mutual isolation networks that detach people from meaningful interactions with one another and make them less human.

Questions people ask frequently.

·         Does technology make us more alone? Do you find yourself surrounded by people who are staring at their screens instead of having face-to-face conversations? Are you ever guilty of doing that, too?

·         Is our obsession with documenting everything through photographs and videos preventing us from living in the moment?

·         Do you ever try to put your phone down to be more present with the people in the room?

·         Do you have rules for yourself or for your friends or family about when and how you use technology in social situations? If not, do you think you should?

·         Do you think smartphones will continue to intrude more into our private and social spaces, or do you think society is beginning to push back?

 Summary.

Granted, I am no better than anyone else in this area but I am striving to include more coffee shop visits, stopping by friends’ houses for a meal or even talk on the phone for a couple hours in order to stay involved in friends’ lives. We should put down our phones, turn off their computers, and learn to communicate with one another face-to-face. Do we continue to stay online thinking that is the only way to stay connected or do we get offline and take a walk to get to know each other?