SOCIAL MEDIA IS IN FACT, FOR IDIOTS
One of the first things parents teach you is to not talk to strangers and yet, we happen to communicate with strangers we cannot even see. Everybody uses social media. From kids to elders. It is a double-edged sword. And over time it started to gain its pros and cons. It can help raise awareness for important causes or small issues that are happening in the world but it is also a perfect platform for interesting individuals.
At this moment, it is hard to tell whether social media is for idiots or if it turns people into idiots. Some humans can certainly show their true colours and throw rants and leave hateful comments on people, they do not know when they cowardly write what they want by being anonymous.
Anyway, back in the dark ages (the late 90s — early 2000s) when social media did not exist (or at least it was still in its infancy), there were these medium-sized black boxes called faxes and telephones were actually chained to a wire. But now we are the ones chained to our phones. Yes, we have become slaves to our own invention. Remember when we used telephones just for talking and you could actually hear a real human voice on the other end? Or how exciting it was to be anticipating a call from a friend? Or when the first cell phones were so heavy they could break a cemented pavement if you would drop them? They were unbreakable just like bricks. Now, when you drop your phone, the screen breaks. The purpose of phones was to communicate. The purpose has not changed but it expanded. The phones are everything. We pay with them, take pics with them and even dress them in weird phone cases.
But let’s get back to the real issue here. Do not get me wrong. I love social media. I mean, how else could I watch funny cat videos, who determinedly try to fit into tiny boxes? Those videos are the sole purpose for my existence. It is a great platform for people, to share their life, work or hobbies with the rest of the world. At times, it is superficial, self-centered and dull and sometimes it is inspiring, emotional and funny. However, at the same time, social media it the most vicious and cruel world that has ever existed (besides the Middle Ages and World Wars). The initial idea of social media was to bring people closer but it seems it had a counter effect. The romanticism of receiving a handwritten letter or a postcard had vanished. Now, we get so many messages and email notifications per day, we have to put our ringtone on mute. It is becoming annoying, repetitive and derogatory. It was a utopia to think that it would stay to be a safe and positive place. Everything that was ever invented got misused at some point. People are people and we are selfish. Some may be more than others but we all are.
They presented us with this shiny, monitored, artificial place and we fell for it. We are getting used to not hearing or seeing real emotions but just a pixelated version of a text bubbles with no grammar rules whatsoever. And yellow, round circles, called emoji, that are apparently portraying human emotions. You would think that no reasonable person would ever be into this stuff. Yet, here we are. When it first started it was exciting. Because it was something new and unexplored. It was like some high-tech innovation from a George Lucas’ movie. And we were HOOKED. But as our nature would have it, it was getting boring minute by minute. And that is when the social media pandemic was born. It was spreading like pests that feast on sweet peaches. And since we, hippies, live in the moment and do not think about the future (or the consequences) the social media uprising got a hold of the human race. Yes, we let the dark side win.
We basically cannot escape this artificial world. It made us more aware, disrespectful, vulnerable and suspicious of other streetwalkers. You search for symptoms of the common flu and it leaves you thinking you have developing cancer. Or you end up ordering some fancy medicine and losing your money to smart brains, who take advantage of the human naivety when a simple, soup recipe from grandma is really the only medication you need.
We talk so much that we end up with empty conversations. But we still turn to that wrong place to look for something right. Maybe social media is just the thing that comes with being a millennial. And maybe this is the struggle of our century we have to overcome somehow.
But if social media is for idiots, that I am one as well.
