The Distance of Connectedness
I think this discussion is super interesting. The idea behind social media sites is to help connect and bring people together. And at a first glance, it seems to have done just that. personally, it allows me to talk to people I barely get to see. In addition, I can see statuses and photos of those people, which gives me the feeling that I can still be a part of their lives, even though I’m hundreds or thousands of miles away. This is especially important to me because I live far away from my entire family. My dads side lives in places like Georgia, Massachusetts, and Colorado, while my mom’s side of the family is in Germany and the Czech Republic. If it weren’t for social media, i would almost never get to talk to them, or see what’s new in their lives. Yes, there is still phone calls and texting, but it’s hard to schedule that many phone calls and pay for international calls on a regular basis - cue Facebook!
However, when one takes a closer look, something daunting reveals itself. Just as the New Yorker article suggests, social media makes people super unhappy with themselves. When you think about why, it makes sense. People used to do things because they liked it, and it made them happy. But now, I find a lot of people I know (and sometimes even myself) doing things simply so that later they can post about it on social media. Now, logging on to Instagram, I rarely see a powder day that hasn’t been documented. It has become a competition of who can do the coolest stuff, or even more accurately, who can look like they do the coolest stuff. People do stuff in public in order to post in private. That’s just the way it is now, and I can’t think of a more isolating and lonely way to live.
I think the only real way to navigate the fine line between “connecting” with people and flat out isolating yourself from everyone else is to be aware of the motives behind your social media use. Are you logging on to see what everyone else did today so you can compare that to yourself, or are you logging on to say happy birthday to your cousin in California? Noticing why and how often you log on will allow you to become self aware with your behaviors. Are you living for the rush of being online famous or are you living to experience the famous offline world?
Get outside for the hell of it - and don’t post about it. I dare you.
