Technology Interaction Over Quality Interaction
Social media has slowly taken over people’s time, money, communication, relationships, and more. Only a couple years ago, our world was far different than it is now. Landlines were the main source of communication and phone books were actually needed to contact other individuals. Little did we know, social networking sites were slowly on the rise, and would contribute to our lives more than we ever predicted.
Today, landlines are almost extinct, newer and improved cell phones come out each year, and social media is one of our sole means of communication. After watching the Black Mirror episode called “NoseDive”, my thoughts were really put into perspective about our world today and how it may be in just a few shorts years. In the episode, everyone’s lives were based off of ranking and judging others. In a way, our society is already doing the same. We are constantly worrying about the amount of followers we have or how many likes we can receive on a post. It gives people a sense of acceptance and popularity, although it is really not helping society at all.
Through some searching, I found a YouTube video that accurately explains society today. It talks about how our touch screens actually cause us to lose touch. We focus so much of our time on our phones that it actually takes up almost four years of our life. Relationships are now publicized to everyone on social media, and sometimes individuals know private things about your own life before you even do. Our communication has transformed from real and raw conversations to abbreviated phrases and emoticons. It has caused our society to hide behind more walls than ever before. It seems that everyone wants to be accepted by others around them, but they feel that it can only happen through social networking sites.
Take a look…
It is quite scary to realize what our society is transforming into today. Times have changed tremendously over the past decade, and I can only imagine what they will be like in 2030. We are already contributing an enormous amount of time to our cell phones, a habit which will only become harder and harder to quit. According to Prince, “we are all conforming to this accepted form of digital insanity” (2014). The more we base our lives through the wall of a phone screen or social media account, the more our society will start to resemble the Black Mirror episode. The maker of the YouTube video “Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?” claims that our phone battery dying should be a blessing because it will lead us closer to humanity, and I could not agree more.
References
Prince Ea. (2014, September 29). Can We Auto-Correct Humanity? Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://youtu.be/dRl8EIhrQjQ
