Is social media making us less social?
Article by: Ranna Albrolisy
The birds are chirping, children are running around the park laughing, as parents sit together catching up after a long time of disconnecting…
As far as I know, a scene like that was something generations up until Gen. Alpha have experienced! If anything, today’s new generations may experience “touching the grass” (quite literally) on the 4th of July when children are really excited about meeting their friends and eating hotdogs!
Nowadays if you were to walk into, let’s say, a doctor’s office, without a device on you (a laptop, iPad, or phone) and tried to talk to someone casually, you would probably find it a very grueling task. The reason for that is simple. Technology was designed to be helpful in so many ways, advancing us to the state we are in now with the caveat that we would lose connection with each other.
Meaning? Let’s go back to our little anecdote. If you observe the room you walked into, you’ll most likely find a child with a parent's phone watching a cartoon to keep them busy, a teen texting and smiling at their phone for some unknown reason, an adult in another corner mumbling as they talk to someone on the phone complaining about the weather outside…
The point is, all of us could be in the same room while simultaneously being in completely separate worlds from each other! Each in their own little bubble according to how they use their phone and when in the day. That scenario leaves me to wonder, are all the new ways we have of connecting to each other actually harmful since we disengage with the “real world”?
Is social media really making the teen laughing and texting on their phone all day long less social and unable to communicate with others properly when disconnected from the device? Is it possible to live comfortably and in a functional way without ever talking to each other properly again?
According to the University of Maine, there are around 4.48 BILLION people around the world that use social media in some way. Imagine that many people choosing every day to disconnect from the world they live in for one in a device someone created one day?
Our social skills are already compromised in ways few of us understand. The Odyssey explains that while many people would opt for texting for simplicity sake, it has also left room for misreading people’s words and assumptions as what could possibly be meant by what was said instead of interpreting body language. It has also allowed for cyberbullying and harassment.
The addiction we hold to the ease of media and technology has left us vulnerable to harm in ways that would not be found in person. We all know that the scenario at the doctor’s office that I talked about above can happen anywhere at any time.
So why would we be ok with living in a world where kids have such a short attention span now that two videos have to play at the same time and won’t go outside without force and adults scroll aimlessly through social media as a way to unwind?
That doesn’t sound relaxing or something any of us can maintain. Human beings are social creatures so I think it’s fitting to say that we should be concerned that we have gotten to a point where technology is more important to us then actually living and being present with each other. Don’t you think or am I wrong? Let me know.
Sources:
Social Media Statistics Details — Undiscovered Maine — University of Maine (umaine.edu)
The Negative Impacts Social Media Has On Society (theodysseyonline.com)
