Social Media? Huh?

# Demented and Sad...but Social

Social. Media. Social + Media. Social Media. The term is so ingrained in our brains, that we don't even think about the reality of those two words put together. Is there really anything "social" about social media?

 

 

I guess it depends on how you define "social" to begin with. If your definition is somewhat lax and tends to sway more towards any interaction with any other person as social, then I guess the term "Social Media" makes sense to you. Well, mostly anyway. You can't really explain away watching all of those cat videos, can you?

 

 

If your definition of social is a little more strict and tends towards a physical interaction between two or more people, then the term probably doesn't make sense to you. Well, mostly anyway. You can't really explain when you go out to a gathering and offer nothing to the conversation or stand in a corner, and speak to no one.

 

Obviously I don't need to disclose that I am a social media user. I'm a Facebook regular, an Instagram follower, a LinkedIn subscriber, and a Google + beginner. I never got in to Twitter, though. The only reason you're even reading this is because it was posted on some social media outlet. Or you're my Mom, and I gave you the direct link.

 

 

 

We all sit behind our computers or phones commenting on random status', uploading pictures, checking in to different establishments, or (if we're the highbrow social media user), updating our resumes and work profiles. Mostly, though, we spy. We spy and judge. We spy, judge and compare lives.

 

Now, I personally don't considering it spying if I "happen" to find something that someone put up on a social media site. If you didn't want it to be found, read and reviewed, you would never have put it out on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr + or the multitude of other sites that are out there. Can you really say someone is encroaching on your privacy when you have given up your right to that specific incident you posted, without making your profile private? It's the equivalent of putting a box of open donuts in your Company lunch room and then being shocked that someone dared to eat them. Think of all of the information that you've put out on social media as the donut, and everyone else are your hungry co-workers.

 

 

There was a time, not that long ago, when being social meant actually getting off of your ass and doing something. With other, you know, live people. It wasn't considered social to play video games all day. It wasn't considered social to watch TV all day. It wasn't considered social to read all day. These are all forms of media. Why are those not considered social media, but online sites are? Is it because you are "talking (typing)" to someone that actually exists? Someone you know or used to know? Hmm. If that's the case, then the simple act of writing an email to someone is social media. Or "live chatting" with an online help desk. I think you'd be hard pressed for someone to take you seriously, though, if you told your friend that you consider the 1-800 FLOWERS live chat feature to be social media.
 

So, I'm back to the misnomer that is the term "social media". It's just not all that social. As a matter of fact, it quickly makes people anti-social, in more ways than one. A few being:

• Many people have their noses stuck in their phones checking social media when they're actually, you know, being social

 

• People make shit up. Period. While this can happen in actual social situations, your audience is magnified hugely when you say that you're jetting off to Tahiti for the weekend, stopping off in Greenland on the way back. Please, show some self-control. Some humility. With that said...

 

• I've seen people get very upset about how so many of their friends seem to have such an amazing life -based on everything that they post on Facebook. People actually are trying to live up to the falseness of "friends". Friends they haven't seen in years and years. Friends that are posting about their fictional lives. The time taken having this conversation causes me, myself and I to be anti-social.

As I mentioned, I am an avid social media user. I'm certainly not trying to knock it. Social media has allowed people to reconnect with long lost friends and classmates. It's reunited families. It's made us laugh and brought social awareness to some issues that might otherwise not have been brought to light. A lot of the time, you get breaking news quicker via social media than you do through typical news outlets. I think social media serves a purpose. I just think we have to be aware that social media doesn't replace unique human interaction. I think we all need to come to terms with it a bit more, before we're all Skyping Thanksgiving dinner to our families instead of driving to see them.

 

 

So, is social media actually social? Times have changed very quickly, so maybe our definition of social needs to adapt as well. When Mom used to say "Why don't you go out and make some friends", now I guess her child can answer "Ma, I have 688 friends on Facebook." God, I feel old as dirt.
 

I'm drawn to the classic line from John Hughes' unforgettable movie "The Breakfast Club". When questioning Brian about his choice of academic clubs, John Bender responds as follows, "So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social. Right?"
 

 

 

I guess that pretty much sums it up, right? BTW, please be sure to post, share, and/or like this. LOL
 

 

With Love

Lady Butterfly

xoxo