Is Social Media Really a Distraction from Real World Issues?
We often hear about how Millennials are attached to their phones, and how they ignore real world issues by utilizing social media. When, in reality social media platforms put all of the news and real-world issues out there in a much easier to reach format. Society has built up a means to having literal pocket-sized computers that allow us access to almost anything we can imagine, news articles, friends and family, games, pictures, pokemon, and if you believe some memes fall above them all. Is this really the case or are we just entering a world of new communication that makes many people uncomfortable because of its lack of personal and face to face nature?
People often see articles and videos posted like these and assume that is all there is, parody and satire ignoring the real world problems. There is an extension you can get for Google Chrome that replaces pictures of Donald Trump with cats, and a video played for comedic effect. Admittedly the first seems a little out of left field and unnecessary, when in reality it is just another way of letting users have control of how they view their content. If users choose to employ this extension, they are able to view news articles and not worry about skewed pictures, getting only the facts, or allowing them to use their own judgement on the article. The video posted, while being a satirical look at how people are viewing current issues, hopes to make light of the over the top reactions. Ideally helping to change minds or make people realize how the way they may be acting is coming across.
These two are perfect examples of how news can reach anyone no matter where they are online. I personally am not a follower of Elizabeth Warren on Twitter, and yet when someone I know shares her tweet I see it. While the world may seem to be a closed-off place, we are open to seeing more and more things just by proxy. The second shows that even some of the more interesting and off the wall Twitter users can bring to light videos and news-worthy information. Just because we as a people use social media as an outlet for our frustrations and as a way to unwind, doesn’t mean we are unexposed to the world around us.
While we often see many users responding to news and important topics with jokes and humor, it appears to be a knee-jerk reaction. Similar to the tweet and reply above. In a world where very real issues are always directly at our fingertips, it is easy to become jaded, desensitized, or worse actually afraid at the state of the world. As we have learned time and time again, laughter is the best medicine, so by making jokes and making light of a difficult topic we are able to feel slightly more in control. The jokes and memes that are made at the expense of the news often times grants us a sense of power in a world where many feel powerless.
In this video Patrik Wincent talks about the addiction we have to our phones, specifically social media. He discusses all of the potential things we miss while we’re lost in our screens. Specifically making mention of a personal story while he was at a sporting event for his son. During said event Patrik’s phone went off and while checking the notification he missed his son scoring the final point of the game. Keeping in mind that this video is from 2016, which was a time when everyone was pushing hard for everyone to put their phones down, I find myself disagreeing with some of his points. I disagree that controlling yourself from checking your phone is as difficult as he says, and I disagree that teaching your children to use technology from an early age is purely a negative aspect of society. I will agree that it should be mitigated and rounded out with personal connections, but we don’t progress and build upon technology if we don’t learn to use it. As will all things, self-control and moderation are key when it comes to our phone time.
As explained here, Simon Sinek discusses not only the reason behind social media and technological addiction but argues ways to fight it. His arguments are much less extreme. He offers real world examples of how and why social media can cause us to feel more isolated when not paired with personal relationships. Many of the arguments he makes against the overwhelming distractions smartphones cause are to help build real-world connections, with people around us in the workplace, with our environment, or sometimes even with ourselves. He talks about how creativity can be bred in settings when we feel uncomfortable. While much of his argument centers around how the Millennial generation is impacting the workforce, he does argue that if employers wish to draw employees it is a good idea to begin to work with and not against them.
While social media has become a scapegoat for the idea of societal downfall, there are so many fantastic aspects to its use. Social media affords us the opportunity to grow as a world culture and not just as individual groups anymore. We see interact with people from all over the world, see news and its impacts across the globe just by opening up our phones and checking Twitter or logging into Reddit or Facebook. Then of course, through websites like Medium we are able to share our opinions with the world as well. The simple fact is, while we of course use social media as a means to escape from time to time, that is how all technology has been used. This new form of escape just appears to be shallow when viewed from a certain point of view. With the right tools and motivation this new form of communication could lead to a much more globalized society, hopefully sooner rather than later.
