Is social media making you feel lonely?
Just as any other tech savvy person I’m all into social media. Especially since I started this blog I use social media to share, exchange, and redistribute the content I create. It helps me to let the world know about my first world problems and digital adventures. When social media just came up with Facebook and Twitter I didn’t want to get involved with it. I found it not necessary to share my private life with everyone. But since that time Twitter as well as Facebook have gotten much more evolved. As I’m into running and tech I started to follow groups and people with the same interests. I find that this keeps me up to date with the latest and greatest on these topics.

how social media can enrich your life
Another thing I’ve gotten into is sharing pictures with my family on Facebook and WhatsApp. This is a great way to keep contact with people I don’t see everyday. Seeing where they’re at and what they are doing. Social media really helps to get in touch with someone easier than the more traditional ways.
You can really see how social media can enrich your life and help you communicate in a much easier way. This hasn’t gotten unnoticed in the workplace. With the coming of tools like Evernote and Slack, in which you can use all kind of channels with topics, social media has found it’s use into many office workflows.
the source of many misunderstandings and frustrations
This is all very helpful and cool but it is also the source of many misunderstandings and frustrations. As I work in tech some of these tools are used in the place where I work. Sometimes they are useful but a lot of times I find them intrusive as I’m focusing on the tasks I have at hand for that day. Mostly the messages are about tasks or problems that have to be fixed within a short period of time. That is of course intrusive for my planning. Especially when it comes to problems the messages are too cryptic. A lot of the time they are the start of long threads of questions and incomplete explanations. Also it is unclear whether it is as urgent as they seem when you read the messages.
there is a fine line
When I’m in the office with my colleagues it is much easier to notice if something is really as urgent. The whole nonverbal communication aspect of a conversation is very helpful and we can quickly collaborate on a problem if someone seems stressed about something. While when using social media for these kind of tasks that part of the communication does not come through. When your waiting on your message to get answered you can get very frustrated.
With social media there is a fine line between using it to your benefit and using it to be social. There is a difference between using it to organize a gathering or using it as a gathering to speak to people. It can feel very lonely when all you get it birthday wishes through Facebook instead of a call or people dropping by. This can really fuel someone’s feeling of isolation and self-doubt.
It is my strong belief that real life social interaction can really help ones communication skills and create longer and lasting friendships. But that social media can be used to help sustain those friendships.
So get on your social media app of choice and organize your next real life social gathering now!
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