Technology and Me
In today’s world, it is nearly impossible to avoid technology and social media altogether. You can cut out specific parts or outlets of media but it will always eventually get back to you. Being that it is such a fast-paced and constantly-changing form of communication, it will always find new ways to draw you back in.
Social media can be amazing and can bring people together in ways that were never possible before. You can make friends with people all over the world and be able to talk to them and keep up with their lives but it also has a staggering way of keeping us separate and isolating people into the dark aspects of their own lives.
It also can leave a permanent footprint on your life. Employers can find your social media and be able to find even deleted posts and updates in order to learn about who you are as a person and to find out if they would want you in their work environment.
I personally don’t post to social media often. It creates a toxic environment because people are able to be anonymous and hide behind their screens. This gives them more confidence to post hateful things on people’s feeds or updates without fear of repercussions. This increases cyberbullying which can then lead to further isolation.
The main forms of social media that I use are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Linked In, Reddit, and Snapchat. I check Snapchat, TikTok, and Reddit almost every day, Facebook and Instagram 2 or 3 times a week, and Twitter and Linked In about once a week. Facebook and Instagram are for keeping up with friends and family. TikTok is just for entertainment. Linked In is for jobs. Reddit and Twitter are for news and updates on games that I keep up with.
I rarely post on any social media because it can create such a potentially toxic environment and I don’t want to put myself into those situations if not necessary. When I do post, it is strictly to share achievements or fun events that took place.
Michael Price wrote an article in 2011 called Alone in the Crowd. In this article, he discusses how technology has changed our face-to-face interactions and relationships. Technology has made us more distant from each other even though we can reach people much easier. It isolates us into these “boxes” that make us feel as if we have to be perfect at all times and that we have to portray this “perfect persona” so that people will like us.
He also talked about how technology has reduced people’s intimacy. It is much more difficult to see the “real you” than it used to be. People have so many walls up that it is much harder to break through and to be able to have a real conversation with people.
Andrew Foster wrote about how technology can be isolating even in social settings. It has drastically shortened our attention spans and made it almost impossible to carry out basic conversations without feeling the need to resort back to our phones. Our phones allow us to obscure our faces while conversing and will then make us lose attention much faster.
While technology is not all bad, it definitely comes with its downsides. Technological isolation is extremely common nowadays and it creates many problems for people’s day-to-day lives. So I will leave you with this question, is it worth it?
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/social-networking
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