The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media
As we expect more from technology, we expect less from each
other, to the extent of replacing the physical presence of each other with the
companion of social media. The presence of social media is prominent, social
media and us, are now an inseparable entity. It has become a void where we can
present our best self and we present who we want to be, and not who we really
are. However, in more recent studies, it has raised some red flags to how
social media is affecting the psychological health of individuals. The most
pressing issue of them all would be how social media have provided us an avenue
to replace people in our social circle, causing a wave of superficial
relationships.
Social media is a platform that brings people closer to each
other, at the same time it helps to cluster people of common interest, thus
forging new relationships. However research has shown that the quality of
relationships had been jeopardized by technology due to the lack of physical
presence for one another and the poor social media etiquette. It has created
confusion on social practices, like how often should we connect to our friends,
or how popular are we on social media. In addition due to the attention we are
receiving from social media, we have inadvertently diverted our attention away
from those who matters, such as our schoolmates and our close friends. This is
the worrisome issue that needs to be corrected. From studies conducted by UCLA,
evidence suggests that “teens’ increasingly preferred mode of communication with their friends,
texting, makes them feel less connected and bonded than face-to-face
communication.” Although this might not seem like a major concern on an
individual scale, it has raised pressing psychological impacts on
relationships, on a larger scale. According to (Turkle, 2012), “People are less
able to relate to others face-to-face even though people appear to be connected
on social media all the time. Albeit the ease of communication, people are
becoming less emotionally connected to one another, creating a new phenomenon
of being alone together.”
The
root of the problem is that social media generates a larger audience which gave
individuals a sense of affirmation, to their point of view. Thus generally,
people who have strong opinions would definitely give strong viewpoints. As
such the users feel as though these people share the same thoughts and that the
view of those who really mattered, are out to demean us. According to (Turkle,
2012) “This is a pressing issue as the views and remark from social media is a
form of pretend empathy.” When the individuals are faced with a real problem,
social media can only provide us an avenue to confide our problem with. It does
not empathize our situation or help us solve our problems, unlike a true
friend.
Despite
the pertinent drawbacks of social media, there are currently no corrective
solutions to rectify the immediate issue of lack of face-to-face interaction.
However social media app creators are creating more interactive apps to help
people create a deeper level of connection using social media. An example would
be facetime and snapchat, such apps allow visualisation of the people who you
are chatting with. Although such apps are still not as similar as face-to-face
conversations, it does help to foster a deeper level of connection. According
to (Dakin, 2014), “Graduate student Lauren Sherman studied various forms of
communication between pairs of friends. She found the closer the experience was
to in-person conversation, the more emotionally connected the friends felt. For
example, video chat rated higher than a phone call, but the phone created a
closer connection than texting”. However I believe the existing technology is
still far from the ability to replicate the physical presence of a person.
Despite the various interactive apps, there is still a paramount difference
between social media and social interaction. In addition we have yet to perfect
the video conferencing ability, due to poor signal reception or recording
features, this might result in bad social media communication. Being a user of
Skype, I would say that the quality of the video conference can be quite bad at
times, especially when the users are calling from different countries. It
results in frustration and ultimately straining the relationship.
Albeit the negative impact of social media, I believe it would
not change our demographics on the usage of technology anytime soon; neither
will there be a technology to replicate the face-to-face interaction. However I
believe there are ways to alleviate the situation. I believe the root of the
issue would be on the poor quality of connection due to lack of proper social
media etiquette. I believe technological companies to advocate proper social
media etiquette, such as not texting over a certain timing to avoid disturbance
to the user, or enforcing that users should reply the messages upon viewing of
the message, if not the message would be stored in archive. Next I believe we
should eradicate some of the social ills created by social media, and I believe
schools provide the most suitable platform. I believe secondary schools in
Singapore should advocate the ban on the use of social media during school
hours, this would help students better connect with their peers in school.
Lastly I believe app creators should also be more aware of the social ills
created by their app, instead of focusing on maximizing profits all the time. An
example would be tinder; it is a matchmaking social media app that allows you
to connect with girls of your choice. Albeit its popularity, the values the app
unknowingly create is competitive platform to rate and judge a person by their
appearance, on the app. Like how we are taught not to judge a book by its
cover, the not only does not match make people together, it gives people
pretended desirability. Thus more should be done to ensure that social media
applications are not generating negative values.
In conclusion, social media has undoubtedly aided us in many
aspects, especially in terms of the efficiency of work, however people must
realise why they have the social media account for. If one creates a social
media account for work, one should solely stick to work related issues as it
might create confusion for the user. I earnestly hope that humanity is able to
differentiate true companions form pretended empathy.
Reference:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/social-media-affecting-teens-concepts-of-friendship-intimacy-1.2543158
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