Stop Blaming Social Media

I am sick to death of being lectured to by men and women who are at least 20 years older than I am about how Social Media is ruining our lives and that we should revert to how it was in the 'good old days'. I am sick of being 'social media shamed' for spending my free time and working time on social media. I am sick of being told what's wrong with what I deem to be a skill and a pass time of mine.

Yes, the culture different from what you remember growing up. In fact, it's even different from what I remember growing up. But just for a moment try and appreciate that although it is quick change, this is not bad change. I want to be clear that I am not trying to take away from the severity of some very prominent underlying issues that are associated with the overuse and abuse of social media such as cyber-bulling, depression, anxiety and isolation.

However, the negative attributes associated with the over-consumption of social media is mirrored in an array of diverse situations that do not centre around social media but rather centre around the problem of overuse, abuse or obsession. Below is Allison Graham speaking about how social media is negatively effecting society. I understand that Graham is not a representation for all people her age of her demographic but she presents arguments that are a focal point of the 'anti-social media party'.

I want to take some time to provide a response to the rhetoric that has evolved within the 'anti-social media' party to provide a more well-rounded view of the world of social media. Simpler Times " I remember when we had pagers, time seemed a little simpler" (Graham, A., 2014)

So, as a working individual, if someone wanted to get in contact and didn't have your phone number they needed to:

1. Find your pager number

2. Page you

3. You needed to find the number on the pager

4. You needed to find a phone to ring the number back on

5. Ring the number and find out what the issue is

6. Respond to the issue.

Nowadays:

1. Find you on Facebook

2. Send you a message

Communication, contact, education and enlightenment has never before been so accessible to people from all walks of life. In particular, social media has "given us potential for communication and interaction that we did not previously possess" (Miller, D., et al., 2016)

Social media has made it far simpler to contact people and the speed and efficiency of said communication has very literally left the 'pager age' in the past.

In a business capacity, social media has simplified the job seeking scene with 94% of companies now using social media to recruit and 14.4 million people searching for jobs on social media. (Parker, S., 2014)

Not only can we communicate with our workforce in a simplified capacity but actually recruiting them has also been made much easier. In Graham's defense, I believe when she was referring to the simplicity of the 'pager age', she was referring to the minimal amounts of channels of communication, making communication simpler. I can understand where she is coming from, but again I think that this is incorrect. Through analysis of the users of particular channels and an understanding of the social media platforms we use, we can target our audiences the demographic that we want to communicate to, very specifically;

"LinkedIn is primarily used by men, their user base is 67% male. Twitter is balanced with an equal percentage of female to male users. Facebook wins the war for women, with 58% female users. Unless we count Pinterest boasting an 80% female user base!" ( Parker, S., 2014) Even if we do not know the person we are speaking to, social media has made it possible to communicate with that person. Only through lack of understanding of the social media platforms and through a blatant refusal to recognize and utilize its potential, could you be so foolish as to assume that the 'pager age' was a more desirable age for communication. Image Obsessed

With the explosion of social media and in particular platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and other Visual Platforms, we see a very particular phenomenon occurring.

People are becoming image obsessed.

From 'selfies' to 'food porn' and 'emojis' to 'GIFs', the digital world has become a visual world and people who aren't part of it, HATE IT! I have seen images like this:

And like this:

Being criticized berated time and time again. Being called 'narcissistic and detached from the reality'. 'Only posing for an appearance on social media'. 'Living life through the lens'. But, these images are cached, collected and archived on social media to be revisited in future times.

"Photographs play an important role in everyone’s life – they connect us to our past, they remind us of people, places, feelings, and stories. They can help us to know who we are." (O'Neill, C., 2015)

Social media platforms even aid the reminiscent attributes to these photo uploads by providing 'memories' that show photographs that had been uploaded in years previous.

" We’re launching Memories, a single place on Facebook to reflect on the moments you’ve shared with family and friends, including posts and photos, friends you’ve made, and major life events.Every day more than 90 million people use On This Day to reminisce about these moments they’ve shared on Facebook, and research suggests this kind of reflection can have a positive impact on people’s mood and overall well-being. This is why we’re updating the experience to ensure all of your memories are easy to find." (Hod O., 2018) It may appear to those, less versed in the workings of social media, that posing and taking pictures on a regular basis is obsessive and self-indulgent yet it is merely an opportunity to document and celebrate the finer points of life, the times that you enjoy; are proud of; and want to see again.

Shortened Vocabulary

"With that shortening [of vocabulary] we loose and run the risk of being able to fully express ourselves and communicate as we move forward" (Graham, A., 2014)

Abbreviations in social media language are the product of speedy communication but are also very specific to the medium in which it they are being used. For instance, you would never end a work email with 'TTYL' or end a Facebook message to a friend with 'yours truly'. Social media 'speak' is wholeheartedly representational of the context in which it is created. It is fast, fun, youthful and exclusive to those who use it. It is actually introducing expression and context to a conversation that may otherwise not exist. In addition to this, the very development of the English language comes from the process of 'clipping', 'fusing' or 'compounding' existing words. "...not content with the million or so words they already have at their disposal, English speakers are adding new ones at the rate of around 1,000 a year. Recent dictionary debutants include blog, grok, crowdfunding, hackathon, airball, e-marketing, sudoku, twerk and Brexit." (Bodle, A., 2016) - Many being compounds, fusions or clippings. The shortening of words is not a result of social media but a result of human communication. The only difference is the speed in which the change of communication has happened. Stop Blaming Social Media

Social Media has opened possibilities and opportunities like nothing that has ever come before. But, social media is another form of communication which is the result of human interaction.

" We should recognize that whatever we do with new technologies must be latent in our humanity, i.e. something that as human beings we have always had the potential to do and to be. Such a capacity is now attained as a result of the new technology.

This theory does not claim to adjudicate on whether any new capacity to send memes or selfies through social media, for example, is either good or bad. It just acknowledges that this has now become simply part of what human beings can do, as has driving a car " (Miller, D., et al., 2016)

We are now in the digital age and the way we interact with social media is a hot topic but by saying that things were better years ago is as useless and insignificant as saying it is better to ride a pennyfarthing than a motorbike.

We should be working on ways to enhance our relationship with social media in a balanced and informed capacity.

And maybe, just maybe; those of us who are digital natives should put our two cents in on how social media effects our world and what the future looks like for us.... All of us.

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