When the question is posed, how has social media changed communication?
I think a broad answer could be given: completely. Communications since the introduction
of social media has changed to a point where it is almost unrecognizable as
communication to older generations. I can think of several conversation with
grandparents where I will mention a life event in another grandchild’s life and
they will ask where I heard it from. Usually from some social media site and
they are blown away every single time. That I have seen pictures of a new baby
minutes after they are born or that I saw a live stream of a nephew playing
football while I was 100 miles away. They can’t even fathom it.
As a
society we went from reading our news in the same newspaper every day, to
having access too and being constantly bombarded by real and fake news on our
devices practically all day long. We went from getting letters from a relative
who lived far away every couple weeks to seeing events in their lives take
place in real time. Social media allows our communication to reach the masses
in real time, so the events I am witnessing in my relatives lives are also
being seen by potentially hundreds of others at the same time. This has been a
help and a hindrance, we are fed so much information we have to process so much
that I think a lot of times we become numb to things that would have otherwise
We went
from thinking poorly of a person or situation and maybe talking about it to a
spouse or close friend to hiding behind our computers and saying whatever we
wanted no matter how hurtful or damaging. I feel that social media has created
a new version of bullying where people can cause harm to others simply because
they are bored or because other people are doing it. This aspect of social
media has not only given a voice for bad but it has given a voice to many
people who would otherwise keep their opinions to themselves. I know a lot of
people who are shy and very reserved who wouldn’t say much in opposition to
another person to their face but when social media is involved it can bring out
a new person who is opinionated and confident in what they are trying to relate
to or express.
We went
from watching home videos once a year at the family reunion to having a picture,
audio and video experience where friends or the world can access our latest
trips or the funny things our kids did or said. In this same vein we are seeing
only the best from so many people’s social media accounts. We are seeing
perfect houses, amazing jobs, big bonus checks, perfectly behaved children and
we compare our worst to their best. Social media has created an almost toxic environment
for some people who spend their time comparing their lives with others and I feel
that this is probably a leading cause for such a rise in depression in our
culture today.
We went
from meeting with old friends and having loads to talk about to getting
together and already knowing everything about each other’s lives and sitting in
awkward silence.
We went
from only having the information that our newspapers and news stations gave us
about political situations to having a database of information at our fingertips
about situations, people. To having hundreds of opinions run past our eyes
daily and having to decipher what is true and what matters to us individually.
We went
from writing term papers using the card catalog at the library or if we were
lucky a set of encyclopedias at home to being able to access unlimited sources
for educational purposes. Social media has allowed us to put our questions out
to friends, to get responses that will be helpful in our education.
Social media is
not inherently good or bad and one could argue it either way, but no one can
argue that it has changed the way we communicate in almost every way since it
became mainstream.
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