There's Nothing Social About Social Media

[6mkaira]

I can definitely see what this video is saying, but ultimately, I think we've become so absorbed in technology that it has become almost impossible to detach ourselves. Personally, I always find myself aimlessly clicking around if I let my mind wander for more than a few seconds and I almost always end up wasting a ridiculous amount of time this way. Sometimes I physically remove myself from all of my devices and it's amazing how much more work I'm able to accomplish when I'm not distracted, but this is usually difficult as much of my homework is done online. I would delete my Facebook but, as some other people brought up above, it can be useful for keeping in touch and asking school related questions. I guess the problem is that it has evolved into much more of a diversion than a useful tool (as it might have been initially). I don't think it's impossible to have social media accounts AND social skills, but I definitely don't think having social media accounts really benefits you in any way (in terms of social development). I guess it's important to know the distinction between the two.

[3lciara]

I think this video does make a good point. I know I'm on my phone a good bit and I rely heavily on it for awkward situations so I have something to do. I went out to dinner with my friends a few weeks ago and one of them took away all of our phones so that we would all be social and talk to each other. I cheated a few times and checked my phone because I had to answer a text or a snap chat. That made me realize that I might rely on my phone a bit too much.
I think where you live makes a big difference on how heavily you use social media. When I go to Ireland, teenagers are always outside and not on their phones nearly as much as New Yorkers are. They all have the same social media as we do- Twitter, Instagram, Facebook- but they do not seem to be constantly checking it. Maybe it's because I'm from the country side or because Ireland's economy isn't as good as America's, but a lot of younger kids don't have iPads or iPhones like they do over here. Instead, they go on play- dates and run in the fields outside like kids should. It's terrible how my 11- year- old sister sits inside most days watching Netflix or playing on her iPad. She does go and hang out with her friends or play sports, but she's definitely inside a lot more than I was when I was that age, and I think it's because of all the social media she has.

[10a victoria]

This video is pretty awesome, aside from the his rad rapping skills , the rapper points out the flaws of today’s society in relation to the social media. Social media is running our lives and taking control of our time and relationship with others. Oh how I miss having face-to-face conversation with my buddies. Wait what buddies?…Exactly, because you have no true friends, because you have no true social life, because it’s pretty much an app. We’ve become so consumed within our phones and apps and stuff that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to keep in touch with reality, with facing the people we love instead of liking their new profile pic and actually enjoying the fact that you are single and not posting a status about it. We are losing touch with ourselves and instead looking forward to someone else’s next post or Instagram picture and we often look to others in the social media to see what things they're doing next in their life as if they were running it, and it shouldn't be like that.

[6mmichael]

I agree with Zelda. In many ways social media and other forms of technology are useful and fun, however it is easy to become obsessed with it. It is sad when a group of people are sitting around each other all on their phones. We are disconnecting from the people around us when social media's motto is to connect with others. It is worse with each generation. I have witnessed my younger sister and her friends have a "play-date," and not speak due to the technology in their hands. Many people have forgotten how to communicate and say "it's easier to say it over text." We are a generation moving forward with advancement, but moving backwards in identity. A phone is apart of our identity now a days. When our phone dies we die with it. We sit and wait for it to charge. We spend our time looking at other people's lives and memories, instead of making our own. Social media is causing unsocial events. People spend half their time at a party trying to get funny snapchat videos, or a good insta pic. We need to put the phones down a live our lives while we still can.

[3mhenry]

I agree that there is nothing social about social media. At many of the concerts I go to, people spend most of the show, especially the most interestinh parts, on their phones, sometimes not even filming, but texting their friends unrelatedly. Social media has really isolated people from experiencing the world around them and has overall harmed many people intellectually and mentally as well as mentally. I recently used an app that figured out how much time I had water on Facebook in my life, and it was over 3 months of time. I will never get that time back

[6REmily]

Yes, I do agree that there is nothing social about social media. In today's society, adults, teenagers, and even children are on their technological devices consistently, separating them from the real world. Social media today include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. We all are frequently on our phones, computers, and laptops, but we don't take time to focus on the things we most dearly love.

Social media takes away family time and one-on-one conversations. Just the other day, I went shopping with my family because it was a family day for us. We went shopping at the place we went to for years and years now. I was just thinking that over four or five years ago, we never had the iPhone or any Smartphones on our hands back then. We went shopping and exploring around areas frivolously and not worrying about getting lost. All of us constantly talked to each other and we formulated a close bond over that. However, looking back at it today, we have our technological devices, which kind of hindered our once close bond that we had. I wish to go back the the old times, instead of just looking down at our phones and asking Google to map our destination consistently.

Aside from that, there is a rise in social media today than a couple years ago. More and more children born in the 21st century rely on their technological devices more, and they depend on them to entertain themselves rather than with people around them or the old-fashion toys. Some of them don't even know or don't even care about having family time or one-to-one conversation without having their phone with them. In today's society, people sit around the dinner table and look on their devices until the food is ready to be served. Years ago, people were told that dinner is ready and they sit around the dinner table and have a conversation. I believe that in today's society when technological inventions and enhancements skyrocket, more and more families have a less closer bond than they would have if there weren't as much technology around to rely on.

[10channah]

I agree that social media has become our new communication when it isn't even communication. The amount of times that someone types something over text of Facebook that could be taken in many different ways is almost all the time. One way it could be seen as rude even when the person is not meaning it that way. Even when someone says Hi people question if that means they are not in a good mood because they didn't say Hey. This all has to do with the fact that communication in person relies a lot on the physical movements we make and the tone of voice we use. Without these factors in our conversation, everything is taken the wrong way. I don't agree, though, that you cannot get to know the person over text. It is different but I personally am not a totally different person over text. I type the same thing I would say in person with a little less words. I think it is a quality and quick way to communicate when people cannot see each other, but it is our generations fault that we rely on text for everything. It is the easy way out to break up with someone or the easy way to break news to anyone. Even though there are many downsides to the ways people can use social media, if one uses it correctly, it cannot influence them in a bad way, it is only then a proactive way to communicate with others.

[10nangie]

This video is one of the most truthful and inspirational videos I have ever watched. Kids of this generation are growing up with so much technology and social media that they don't enjoy real relationships or the nature around them. Every moment has to be captured with a phone and posted on either Facebook or Instagram or has to be Snapchatted. The over-use of phones and computers destroys real relationships and only creates health and self-esteem problems. Abbreviations also give people, mainly teens, problems with grammar. They are not able to spell simple words or form normal sentences. I wish I could stop using my phone;however, although I can limit my use of "social networks", I cannot stop using it completely. Technology is a big part of everyone's life in the 21st century and even teachers started giving assignments that can only be done online. If anything, we have no choice but to use these modern technologies.

[10plauren]

This video was very moving in expressing the current situation of socializing and communication. Social media has benefited those who don’t see one another often or live far away. But now it is used for more than just that. Social media is how people get to know each other, based on what they like on facebook, or what they post about. It used to be, you talk face to face with someone to get to know him or her. Now we see only glimpses of that left in our society. This post reminded me of the artwork by Banksy, an English graffiti artist, which depicts a man and a woman seemingly in love but instead of one another being their focus, it is their technology. In this representation of current society’s version of not living in the moment, it underlines the message of the video. Banksy has a lot of artwork similar to this in which he uses social and political commentary as his theme. I highly recommend checking out his other work, for it is very inspirational as well.

banksy.co.uk/out.asp

[6amedina]

I've seen this video so many times and it always inspires me to turn off my phone and go for a walk but as soon as I exit out of the video, I end up on Facebook, or Instagram which doesn't make any sense! I can't explain to you how angry I get at my friends when we're hanging out and they're on their phone the entire time. I think it's far more important to live in the moment and enjoy the people who are right next to you because, as with all things, they aren't there forever. I think we disregard the idea of living in the moment and truly taking something in, as opposed to taking a good Instagram picture, because we are concerned with the concept of " did this really happen if I didn't post about it". Social media is far more about displaying for your peers than it is about displaying for yourself. We have to learn to look up sometimes. To appreciate the fact that we are alive and we can't afford to lose a minute. There are so many beautiful sights outside your phone or computer screen, we just have to open our eyes to them.

[6caiden]

I agree that people place way too much importance on social media. Choosing a new profile picture can be harder than writing a paper for some individuals. I truly believe that it's too late to go back to how it used to be, where phones weren't as important/rare. There will always be people who genuinely want to share what food they ate, or a picture with a friend, and to be honest thats ok. The problem is when people get so absorbed in their image online, and forget how important it is to live rather than stress how many likes they have on Instagram. Once an individual makes a choice as to if they want to care less about likes, comments or whatever, they can enjoy life 100x more, and if they from time to time want to share a moment, let it be.

[10cvictoria]

I think it is ironic that a platform that is meant to be for human communication takes away from personal connections between people. I think social media takes away the mentality of living in the moment because people are so obsessed with sharing the moment on social media. For example, this past week I was in Croatia. I stayed in the capital, Zagreb. I felt that my teammates were so crazed on taking as many pictures of themselves in Zagreb for Instagram. Unfortunately, I think some missed out on enjoying the cultural experience of the whole trip. I wonder what certain experiences, like the trip I just had, would be like without social media or the worry of staying relevant on social media.

[3kfatime]

It's frightening, looking back at the "progress" humans have made in technology. As our technology advances, our humanity slowly deteriorates and all that is left is a Facebook profile. Nowadays, everybody see's through a camera lens,and forget to experience things with their whole being, too busy trying to share it with the cyber world. I myself must admit I'm guilty, social media can be addicting, making it all the more dangerous. The protection that the internet grants against face to face contact also has dangerous effects. From behind a computer screen, one will say anything, the threat of cyber predators and bullies is always lurking around the corner. In addition, I've seen with my own eyes the daunting effects technology has had on the youngest of our generation. I was babysitting some younger kids one night,around the age of 4-5 years old. I was watching one of the kids play on an i-pad for hours on end, and when the thing finally died, and with no charger in sight, I gave the kid a book. I saw him curiously examine it, as though it were a foreign object. If his unfamiliarity with the book wasn't horrifying enough, imagine my reaction when I was him attempt to SWIPE the pages of the book as though it were an ipad! Now if thats not concerning, I don't know what is.