“Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic.” Arthur C. Clarke (1984)
Good Morning world!
I was reading a blog this morning about the negative impact that social media has on people, especially in the workforce. The writer talks about these so-called “free” networks making a lot of money off of us, the individuals, because they have information on us about what we buy, the people we associate with, our dislikes, and even our relationships. This article also talks about the lack of communication between people face to face, even when they are sitting at the table across from one another. It also talks about social media forcing a new generation to not have to address issues in person.
This article made a lot of good points. When I’m with my friends, and we’re at a restaurant waiting for the food after five minutes of conversation between the three of us the table is completely silent and everyone is either checking Face Book, Twitter, or Tumblr updating instantly.
I do however think social media is a great tool and asset that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Today, on my college campus, there was a young man, who looked to be in his mid 20’s naked sitting in a tree mumbling incoherently to himself.
Now the police, firemen, and security officials were trying to talk him out of the tree. Within moments of this event, students, faculty and staff crowded the free speech area. Every person with a phone, was recording, and uploading the situation to YouTube, Face Book, Twitter, and any other media site. Within 20 minutes of the word being spread we had news vans in where the action was.
Now, without the social media outlets, that story would not have spread as fast and it wouldn’t have been as important unless you were one of the people witnessing the deranged guy in the tree.
I’m proud to be apart of a generation that discovered social media and even more outlets to talk to people, in another city, or even another part of the world. I think with everything, once the hype dies surrounding social media people will go back to talking as we did before.
-N
JustNicoleRenee 