Blog #11 — Social Media Norm Breaching Experiment

Blog Post #11 — Social Media Norm Breaching Experiment 4/14/24

Experiment: The Oversharer

Method: For 24 hours I texted my roommate, Emily, and consistently asked her about what she was doing and updated her on things I did. I chose her because even though we live together, we don’t communicate outside of face-to-face conversations.

Results: It went exactly how I expected. It started with me texting her about work or class and she responded normally. As it went on, Emily started texting me more throughout the day and continued our conversations. Even though we are friends and do talk, I got this new side of her where I learned more about what she was doing in the day as she texted me back. I told my other friend, Abbey, about the experiment and she texted me saying, “Emily — haha kate is texting me so randomly, it’s making me chuckle.” After telling her about the experiment she laughed and understood the spontaneity, but now we text slightly more often after the experiment about random things.

Discussion: The question is though, why is that weird? Why is texting my friend about her day considered “random” if we talk every day? I find I text my friends very little. Now, the norm of communication is primarily Snapchat by sending pictures back and forth, with little to no conversation. I find it interesting that the societal norm of communication is, in fact, no conversation whatsoever. “People show feeling and intimacy, have fun, and build and reinforce social structures even in the leanest of text-only media. As a consequence of people’s enthusiasm for digital social interaction, developers have created ever-richer means for us to communicate.” (Baym 67) Apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook have allowed consumers to think they have more friends than they do. I know I Snapchat or like people’s photos whom I haven’t talked to in years, but that number count under followers communicates to people that I am friends with all of them. Social media has taken the effort out of friendships. While I do think it’s very useful to stay connected with loved ones, it sets a standard that If I send someone a picture of my face once a week we’re still considered “friends.” If I like and comment on someone’s post I haven’t seen since my high school graduation, can we count that as a meaningful interaction? Why is it that the new societal norm for friendship is to take the easy way out with social media rather than texting them? Earlier today I thought about texting a friend from home to start a conversation. My immediate thought was, “Wait no that can be weird, why would I text them?” I don’t want to text my best friend of 15 years because starting a conversation with her over text and not Snapchat “would be weird.” It will be interesting to see if there’s another shift in this communication. Social media is only starting earlier and earlier with the new generations and normal phone calls are already outdated. Is texting the next one to go?

Inspiration for experiment:

https://socialmediacollective.org/2011/07/29/the-oversharer-and-other-social-media-experiments/

Citation:

Nancy K. Baym, Personal Connections in the Digital Age. 2010