Week 15: Blogaholics and Smartphoneaholics
If the New York Times thought that there were a lot of people addicted to blogging in 2004, they would have to believe that now more than ever. I do not know any blogging frequency statistics, but the dependency on technology and using it as a means of communication has certainly increased. I know many college students, myself included, sleep with their cell phones on the side of their beds. It is the last thing they touch at night and the first device they use in the morning — not just because they use it as an alarm clock.
I personally do not consider myself a blogger. I had not used a blogging platform prior to this class, and I do not post or read any blogs outside of this class. I simply have never been encouraged to read any blogs, nor have I felt a strong desire to do so. However, I do spend a lot of time on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat which is in a sense a shortened version of blogging. People post about similar life events on social media as they would in blogging, so I feel it is a somewhat similar experience. What is the true difference between blogging and social media? I rarely post on social media, but I check what other people are posting multiple times every day. It is just a compulsive habit in times that I want entertainment.
While I spend a significant amount of time surfing the web and browsing through Facebook on my phone, I do not believe I have a problem. Yes, I do see why some people view it as a waste of time, but overall I do not think it plays a key role in my daily productivity. I do not believe that an obsession or addiction to social media becomes a problem until it interferes with your work or social life in a negative manner. When you are too busy on your smartphone to socialize with the people physically near you or when you are too distracted by the need to blog to enjoy hiking in the Grand Canyon where there is no cellular reception, you may have a problem. On the other hand, keeping in contact with friends and family who live far away and keeping informed on the upcoming technology in your field of work are both examples of valuable reasons to keep that smartphone in hand. Thus, as long as there is balance in your life, being addicted to your technology is not a problem.
Face-to-face communication and online communication both have advantages and disadvantages. It is advantageous to have face-to-face conversations in which the body language of the other person can be observed which allows for greatly understanding of how they feel and exactly what they mean. Online communication alternatively is valuable in that regardless of where you are in the world, you can still have a conversation as long as you have internet access which minimizes the need for business travel. Furthermore, online communication through blogs can reach thousands of people while there are inherent limits in the number of people you can meet face-to-face.
Technology is both a gift and a curse. In finding the appropriate balance between the advantages of blogging, smartphones, and other technology with communicating in person, one can effectively communicate with a lot of people without sacrificing personal relationships.
