This year on my birthday, i got few phone calls saying "happy birthday", but the following day, i checked facebook and i saw quite a few people left me happy birthday gifts & comments on my facebook page & didn't feel the need to call me to tell me happy birthday because they left me a message on facebook. I also received quite a few birthday shout outs on twitter. I always appreciate the shout outs & i'll never deny the love i get, but this is a trend that has taken over not only in my life, but in the lives of many other ppl i know.
Are social sites taking the human factor away from us as a people?
Many people nowadays have some sort of addiction to some social site. You can go to a party and i guarantee at least 10 percent of the people are on their phone texting or on their instant messenger of choice, telling others about the party when in actuality, they are missing the party. Being somewhat of a twitter addict (who am i kidding, its a full blown addiction, lol) I can log on twitter from my phone & get updates on all shows that are popular, on any pro sports games that are currently on & get a play by play as soon as my timeline updates. This isn't totally a bad thing, but it does take away from the human element technology has in a sense taken away.
Some people even go as far to blame the downfall of their relationships due to social networking sites. I think thats preposterous if you ask me. Social sites are just another avenue that cheaters may use to find new people to start relationships with. If they didn't exist, would cheaters cheat less? I doubt it myself. I have noticed from viewing & interacting with people online over the years that some people are naive enough to believe any & everything the other person on the other end of the wires is saying. So many relationships are started online without even meeting the person (I know a couple that got married without ever seeing each other in person). I am not one to judge. Whatever works for you. But it is a disturbing trend that social sites have started.
I do believe that interacting with someone online is actually a cool way to get a prospective on how others live in other points in the world. I am not anti social networking, but i am anti- "let facebook/twitter/tumblr/myspace/etc" take over your life. If you would rather stay inside on a Friday night, go online & see how your facebook fam is doing (i hate that term, lol) instead of going out and enjoying the precious gift of life & sharing it with others, something is wrong. Now if you are the type to be anti social in public, but have 3,000 facebook friends and 20,000 twitter people you follow, that may be a warning sign that life is passing you by.
Balance is key, nothing should take over your life. Your actions. The decisions you make.
With that said, make sure you follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/Daddy_Jack (lol, i couldn't help it)
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Great, great work, first & foremost. Second, I believe that we've let social networking & technology in general replace what should be done in person. Whenever there's a problem, we turn to the internet, whenever we seek for something, we go to the internet, & whereas it's convenient and helpful, we should still leave things to the human mind... which we don't. Twitter, and facebook, are in fact great sites but we now let it consume us and take over our life.
ReplyDeleteI believe in 'everything in moderation'. It just seems hard to not get sucked into these social networking sites. Finding balance is the key but most people don't take the time to step back for a second and take a look at themselves and how much more devoted they are to this new form of technology than to their own families. I love your blog on this...keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the two ladies above. I am in fact a Twitter addict, to a certain extent. can I go a day without yes of course will no not if the choice was mine. But certain things should still have human interaction, like b-day calls. I want my friends to call me not post on whatever social networking site I use, matter of fact I want them to do both. Maybe that is just the generation I'm apart.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with social networks but as Eileen said 'everything in moderation' As we type to you on another form of social networking lol.
Yes I must say social networks have definitely taken over the lives of many. They for some reason replace that innate need we have for human contact with easy communication. Although there are some people that we would rather not have to deal with face to face there are other relationships that are important. As I sit here in my training class 8 out of the 10 people I asked openly admit they are addicted to one or more of the social networks out there. I must admit I'm not much of a phone person but I don't mind hearing a persons voice from time to time. I realize I speak for very few of cross-sectional generations when I say DAMN, COME LOOK ME IN MY FACE OR TAKE SOME TIME TO HEAR MY VOICE!
ReplyDeleteIt's so true that social networking has taken over many people's lives. I know so many people who will use adding or deleting people from their pages as passive/aggressive means to avoid actually talking to people. It's almost as if the little Facebook/Twitter icon follows you, daring you to talk before it does. Twitter speak even permeates regular conversation: "trending topic"...putting hashtags before writing normal statements...abbreviating your words because you think you only have 140 characters in which to get it out...sad, really.
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