First up let me just say that I am a big supporter of social media, web 2.0, and really excited about working towards a semantic web where sentient applications understand user context, but I decided to have a look on the flip side and can’t help but wondering if too much interaction or reliance on it is making us less social?
Are we getting our social fix satisfied by reaching for the laptop or the smart phone instead of calling and having a real conversation or even arranging to meet up? Is a phone conversation just a little too confronting and intimate now?
What did we used to do with the time we now spend blogging, tweeting, facebooking, or digging? Are we headed towards a watered down version of the Matrix? (Ridiculous, right?)
Heres a couple of ways to tell if social media is perhaps making you less social:
1) When you want to contact a friend your attempts follow this order (more or less):
- Instant Messenger (If available)
- Phone Call
2) You find yourself Twittering about things you do as you do them, instead of just enjoying the experience.
3) When you are with family or friends you have thoughts like, “I can’t wait get home and post my blog/check facebook or twitter”
Overall I think that Social Media presents us with the opportunity to have a broader reach to our interactions, but could result in us having a less deep or lower quality of interaction. That is, we have more friends and contacts but less time to engage in quality interactions with them, for example we’d spend an hour sending messages and tweets to 50 or so friends instead of having a phone or face to face conversation with a couple of them.
What do you guys think?
while i know what you mean by “can’t wait to check my twitter,etc…”, to me it is more a matter of a distributed presence. Physical and mental spheres are overlapping quicker and more often. I have reconnected with (distant) people I do care about and am more in touch with them than I would have been able to 10 years ago. As an expat I wouldnt want to miss that.
related blogpost from me here:
http://snipurl.com/4mdey
Oh come on - we’ve heard this all before, the internet makes us un-sociable, videogames make us disconnected from the world, television violence is making our youth violent.
Although this has some grounds, I call bullshit. Aren’t we tired of these statements already?
I consider myself a pretty social-media-web-2.0 type of person. I run a blog, I have multiple social networking accounts and I work in the online industry. Social networking is pretty much a necessity for me.
But the thing is - I grew UP on this kind of media. I used ICQ back in primary school. I posted things on BBS’s (pre internet if you don’t know you history).
However I also own a mobile phone, and rack up massive phone bills. I speak to people on the phone daily, and I much prefer a phone or face-to-face conversation over TXT messages or emails.
I’d actually argue that social media makes me more social. I might call my close friends and family on a daily basis, but my distant friends - those i want to keep at a distance - I can still keep up with them at a nice digital arms length.
Most people I socially network with online, i know offline. Meetings, gatherings and parties are organised online but take place in the real world.
C’mon. Its two thousand and eight. We’re supposed to have jetpacks - Online social networking is just another evolution of communications mediums. It’s a two way medium. The very nature of it is about contact and communication.
Did writing letters or sending telegrams make us ‘less’ social? I certainly doubt it.
Less intimate than traditional mediums? Perhaps. The younger generations, those born post internet - might argue that it’s much more intimate than analogue mediums due to multiple channels/depth of its communication (ie sound+pictures+words).
Anyway this is beginning to feel like I’m writing an opinion piece in a media theory class. I’ll stop now. End transmission.
That’s a good point Tim, again it’s a matter of balance isn’t it? Social media allows for so much reach, to people we ordinarily may not be able to interact with so easily, whether they may be contacts lost or abroad.
While they are a great way to facilitate online interaction, social media isn’t a replacement for real life interaction, and it doesn’t claim to be either. It’s just that I feel less inclined or obligated to call and catch up with someone when I’ve already had alot of online interactions with them like reading their blog/twitter/facebook and commenting on their status’. And I wonder if that is a good thing in the long run?
Chris, the fact that you feel less inclined to call or catch up with someone, and prefer to twitter/facebook them is perhaps more to do with the nature of your relationship with that person.
I might just want to text or facebook someone. But that’s probably more my subconscious making some form of judgement about how much I want that specific person in my life. They are probably a collegue, or distant friend. Or someone I just don’t like spending much time with in person. You may not realise it - but you subconscious kinda knows.
If it’s someone I care about - who I want more in my life - I’d certainly be calling them and wouldn’t think about instant messaging them.
Online communication has somewhat of a safety-barrier. You don’t have to put so much in, and you don’t have to expect so much.
The very definition of intimacy and personal space is very subjective. Everyone put out different amounts of themselves to friends, collegues and strangers.
I’m typing too much again.
Shameless plug:
http://www.degourget.com
@Logikus wow that was an aggressive rant! All valid points.. though this article wasn’t right-wing, PTA, “videogames cause crime” inspired, just a question for discussion.
I agree with you on it being another evolution in our communication mediums and there is a richness in video+image enabled discussion.
You used ICQ in primary school?? I expected you to be older. I used to dial into BBS aswell but you must have been a little wizkid doing that at that age.
Opinion piece in Media Theory 101? Damn right, I feel like I’ve just been lectured! Whens the next class?
@Logikus true there is a safety barrier with online communication, theres less commitment required isn’t there.
So given that our contacts exist in concentric rings, social networks allow for comfortable and safe interaction with all of the rings, where more traditional and “intimate” forms of communication are reserved for the inner most rings. I see what you mean.
I’ll answer your shameless plug by subscribing to your blog, from reading it, I’m guessing your a macophile interaction creative?
Kinda. Something along the lines of: former pc-modder/hacker-enthusiast turned designer-creative-mac-addict. We’re a growing bunch.
I’ve also nabbed your RSS.
Peas!