Social media platforms have grown in popularity and reach. Billions of people around the world use them. How does that use impact an actual social life?
The promise of social media is that it would help you to be, well, more social. Ideally, a social media app like Instagram, Facebook, or Tik Tok (as well as many others) would allow you to stay in touch with friends and family in a new and more immersive way.
That hope is in the very name “social media”. If you want to keep in touch with someone, you can do so in a way you couldn’t before. You might even be able to meet people who share your interests that you might not otherwise have the chance to meet. It is a new dimension that you can add to your social life.
The reality, though, is a mixed bag. While you can see just what your loved ones are up to (not to mention getting a peek at the lives of celebrities!), it is more complicated than that.
Studies show more people than ever experience feelings of loneliness and isolation. Children who grow up with social media may have more difficulty interacting with peers in a real life environment. Who hasn’t seen a couple at a restaurant not talking to each other, but instead staring at their phones?
Do you have any anecdotes about how social media has directly impacted, positively or negatively, your real life? What are the pros and cons? Does it depend on which app you use, or how or when you use it?
Related questions: What do you get out of social media? Why does social media often bring out the worst in us? What makes us comment on social media? Can an internet friend be a true companion?
Social media are powerful tools. They allow you to connect and do things that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. That said, if you allow them to, social media can become huge time-sucks and “places” to get enraged about opinions you don’t share.
Let’s start with several good things about me and my social media life:
– Several platforms allow my friend Lee and me to share links to our blog, Intellectual Roundtable.
– I use various social media platforms to normalize conversations about mental health and mental illness. I know my information has helped people understand that they are not the only ones who struggle like they do.
– Facebook allows me to wish family, friends, and colleagues a “Snazzy Birthday” when their year around the sun happens.
– Facebook Messenger makes it possible for my siblings to stay on top of and coordinate care for my mom, who lives miles away.
– Facebook helps me reconnect with old friends. For example, my middle school friend Chuck Castleberg react to each other posts and eventually got us to use Messenger, a good communications platform, to hold monthly conversations.
– Facebook allows me to stay in touch with friends who live overseas. This capability is the case with Vibeke, Jan, and Leila.
– Instagram keeps me in touch with heirloom gardeners worldwide, sharing growing techniques and excellent pictures.
– Twitter makes it possible for me and my colleagues to share pressing information and conduct social media campaigns to advance housing justice.
– Many platforms allow me to share pictures from my heirloom garden.
– Facebook Messenger makes it possible for my classmates to find the best date to hold our 35th high school reunion.
– Blogging platforms have allowed me to present my aspirations as an heirloom gardener, share how my followers can protect seed diversity, and offer ways to have a healthier diet for readers and the planet. (My current blog is called Dissident Potato.)
– Twitter and Facebook allow me to share my opinions about issues of the day. (By the way, I believe that if you share an opinion online, you ought to be prepared to defend it.)
– When I have time, I can hold Sunday Evening Concerts on my Facebook feed for readers to see live performances of what I’m listening to.
Now for the downside:
– I waste too much time watching Facebook Reels and looking at my Facebook feed. With the growing season approaching, I suspect the same will happen on my Instagram accounts.
– Sometimes, albeit rarely, I let social media news and opinion posts raise my ire.
– I know social media platforms are tracking what I say and like in nefarious ways.
As you can see, I find greater good in using various social media platforms. But that’s only because I’ve consciously decided to use the platforms proactively to advance important discussions. I’ve also done so in a way to connect with others. While I see how social media can contribute to a loneliness trap, my proactivity has done the reverse for me.