Are Social Networks Worth It?
For the most part, I think not.
For the past few months, I’ve often found myself questioning the value of social networks. A few months ago, I actively used every major social network, as well as infrequently using some less popular platforms. However, over the past month I have gradually come to realise that these ‘social’ platforms are in fact often a distraction from genuine human interaction.
These thoughts were first inspired by my friend, writing an article here on Medium, about how he went a week without any social networking applications on his phone, and loved it. Since then, I’ve spent hours thinking about the necessity of these social platforms.
After spending a few months experimenting, I have finally reduced down my collection of social networks that I use — to Facebook, and Instagram.
To start, lets look at these two platforms. First, Facebook.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2009, and if I’m being totally honest I don’t like the experience provided by the platform. So much so, that it was the first platform I deleted when I began to question the necessity of social networks. But I returned, simply because it was more hassle to not have Facebook (and have to explain why not every time somebody asked) than to simply have it, and live with its flaws. I find my news feed to be a stream of irrelevant content — Casey Neistat summarises my opinion perfectly (in this video), as a “constant flow of internet diarrhea posted by people I only sort of know.”
But, as a utility; a tool for communication — it is second to none. Everyone is on it. Because of this unparalleled coverage, if you will, it is near to essential. It allows me to contact friends, family and colleagues at an unrivaled level of effortlessness. Furthermore, because of this fact of everyone having Facebook, its a great tool for arranging events — parties, outings, even my upcoming holiday with a group of friends was planned entirely through Facebook. All of this, of course, is obvious to anyone with Facebook.
So, I don’t like the uninteresting news feed, but I appreciate the functionality of communicating with everyone, so Facebook is worth my while. I decided to delete my account completely, and start fresh — no friends, no clutter and no embarrassing profile photos from five years ago. The fresh start helped, I’m now concious to only ‘friend’ those who I actually care to communicate with — as of writing this article I have 137 friends, whereas I used to have almost 500 — my news feed is still fairly dull, but it is now at least managable.
As for Instagram, well I don’t have much more to say than I like it. Its a platform where users get to experience snippets of life from people they find interesting and inspirational, and share experiences they have with others. I like the intimacy provided by the platform, and as a lover of photography I never even considered deleting my account.
So Facebook is a tool, Instagram is fun.
So then, the networks I no longer use, what is wrong with them?
Twitter, in my opinion, is a good platform for discovering articles, news and reading about current events — however I found myself often thinking that the most interesting tweets came from people I was friends with on Facebook, and if not then it was coming from people who I like on Facebook or follow on Instagram. It was a case of duplication. The time I spent on Twitter consisted of reading tweets I either didn’t care about, or re-reading information I’d already seen on another platform, be it Facebook or Instagram. So, with that — I deleted my account. In the instance of a major event that interested me, I just went to the page of the users whose opinion I was interested in — and read what they had to say. Simple.
Snapchat — I used it and used it and used it, and then realised what I was doing. Sure, for the first few months it was exciting and fun to send people silly photos of yourself that after a few seconds disappeared, but in hindsight, it was a kind of silly way to chat to people when I could just be texting them. Additionally, there were always people taking screenshots or sharing everything they did — no matter how mundane it was. Seriously, I don’t care that you’re going to the supermarket! Also, for those of you still using Snapchat, don’t snap when you’re on the toilet — just no.
It took me a long time to delete Tumblr. I enjoyed it like I enjoy Instagram, so I figured it wasn’t doing much harm. But in reality, it lacked the story behind it that Instagram does — I didn’t know the people running the blogs I followed, and nobody really cared for what I was posting. I had it for six months, but had gained only 38 followers. With that, I got rid of it. The process of deleting my account was resisted by Tumblr, emotional language about the ‘memories’ and ‘friendships’ forcing me to reconsider — but I resisted, and then it was gone. People say Tumblr is addictive, and I would agree — but I really feel no worse off without it now.
I got rid of Pinterest on the same grounds as I did with Tumblr, although I actually deleted my page there a while ago now — but it is still worth mentioning.
I had account for other platforms, but I never really used them — so I went and deleted every account I could.
Lets bring this all together then, why I do I think that social networks get in the way of genuine human interaction?
Well, watch this video.
This video shares a very powerful message, and although it doesn’t explicitly refer to social networking and more of a general view towards technology — it still accurately represents how I feel.
I won’t be going so far as to delete everything social off my phone or be leaving my phone at home when I go out. But I’ve consciously made an effort to reduce the distractions from actually socialising.
Beyond these social networks, I’ve rediscovered alternative ways to fill my time. It would be impossible to constantly be physically interacting with other people — so in the time I now spend alone I find myself doing far more valuable things. I’ve read more in past months than I have in a long time, books and articles alike. I’ve expanded my knowledge in many topics as a result, and I can confidently say that the information I’ve absorbed has been massively more valuable than anything I ever would’ve seen on Snapchat, Tumblr or any other network I dropped.
Additionally I’ve changed my opinion on media and content consumption. Sure, like most people I’ll still watch the occasional YouTube video but I try and make what I do watch of value to me, avoiding the videos of cats is a must! For example, I’m watching more films now, which becomes a great topic of conversation when I’m with others. Previously I could easily spend hours browsing the internet during an evening, without finding anything that could really spark a good conversation.
Finally, I can’t reflect on this topic with considering the impact on my productivity. I ask you to consider how much time you spend in a day checking your phone? With that time, you could be doing something to do with work, cleaning around the house, or making a phone call to catch up with an old friend? I too, am guilty of probably spending too much time online when I needed to focus on work.
In summary, I ask each of you reading this article to really consider if you really need to be posting to half a dozen social networks multiple times throughout the day, and instead think of what you could be doing instead — be it work, reading, or socialising the proper way.
I also want to clarify, that texting and email are tools in a similar way to Facebook. I avoided talking about these methods of communication during this article as they have been around far longer than most social networks.
What do you really need to keep in touch with the world? If you don’t think you need something, try going without it for a week, even a day — and see how much better it makes you feel. Lets learn to use modern technology to fully aid our social lives, not to cover up social awkwardness.
