Just a social human-being
I want to draw on ideas from this week’s reading to share upon how this perspective has provided me some insights into why social media practices vary from person to person. In society where there is a strong reliance on social media for interaction, connectivity and information, it is uncommon to encounter someone that does not use any form of social media whatsoever. The social practice of meeting a neighbour or starting a conversation with someone you see on a public bus has decreased because of the overlap of our public and private lives. Therefore, because there is less sharing exchanged exclusively with people solely immersed as beings in a public space, I believe that even those that attempt to resist the use of social media feel the need to be connected. I argue this because Dunbar suggests that it is the animal genetic make-up to innately want to share to build connections and respect.
I chose to address the idea of people resisting social media because I myself have wanted to resist the urge to use it, yet I still engage with it every day. Although I have limited amounts of content that I have produced or reproduced, I find that I engage with the sharing aspect of social media the most. I don’t care much to produce content, but sharing relatable content, gossip, or insightful information is a practice I closely engage with within my social sphere. I guess I’ll just blame this on my social human nature.
Does anyone have a similar experience to mine?
I can definitely see that in myself where I don't actively post on social media, but I'll be present to my closest friends through sharing videos or memes. It's establishing your telepresence when you think to tag a relevant post to someone and shows you thought of them. My friends and I don't even need to chat in our group chats, we just post to share content to share and laugh over. We're just actively chiming in with funny videos, pictures, etc.
ReplyDeleteHey Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to your experience as I see the same things happening in my own life. Similar to what Steven has said above, I find myself trying to avoid the use of social media yet I continue to strive for connectivity with my friends through this practice of sharing in group chats. Like you said, I don't find myself wanting to produce content of my own (Such as posting photos on Instagram, or posting things on Facebook) yet I find myself constantly sharing and recirculating ideas. I previously thought that I didn't use social media that often, since I thought I wasn't using it in the traditional way of posting/creating/etc. In actuality I'm still constantly sharing, which makes me just as much of a user as social media as everyone else.
Great post Sophia!
ReplyDeleteAs I can relate much like my peers above, I too experience the similar desires and aspects of the use of social media. I believe its become accustomed to the normality of society to engage within the online presence, whether this means you are the producer or the consumer. It becomes the interactivity of experience and the shared connection with our peers of exchanging information and presenting our online presence.
Well I'm sure many of our peers would like to agree with the idea that they aren't addicted or reliant on this social media presence, we almost are unaware just to the extent of our use. While I too don't produce nearly as much as the next person does, I find myself on these social media sites every single day! Our activities between our peers no longer needs a physical presence rather we can establish our relationships through mediated technology. Where it once was normal for children to go outside and play with their friends until the street lights go on, the norm is to be in their homes on their computers (and/or) phones interacting with their friends until very late at night! This is the same establishment of relationships.
Great post Sophia!
ReplyDeleteAs I can relate much like my peers above, I too experience the similar desires and aspects of the use of social media. I believe its become accustomed to the normality of society to engage within the online presence, whether this means you are the producer or the consumer. It becomes the interactivity of experience and the shared connection with our peers of exchanging information and presenting our online presence.
Well I'm sure many of our peers would like to agree with the idea that they aren't addicted or reliant on this social media presence, we almost are unaware just to the extent of our use. While I too don't produce nearly as much as the next person does, I find myself on these social media sites every single day! Our activities between our peers no longer needs a physical presence rather we can establish our relationships through mediated technology. Where it once was normal for children to go outside and play with their friends until the street lights go on, the norm is to be in their homes on their computers (and/or) phones interacting with their friends until very late at night! This is the same establishment of relationships.
also don't know why my post above was unknown and i don't know how to delete it so here's my post with my name oops!
DeleteHey Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your discussion post for this week. I had also focused on the same topic for my discussion, however, I feel as though you touched on topics that I had missed in my own understanding of being a 'social' human being. I have always tried to restrict myself towards using social media; I think the longest I was able to go was a couple of weeks. I always found myself going back because I feared that I was missing out. Not only on the content posted by many of my social media 'friends', but also the platforms that I had used to get my news. As many millennials do, much of the news and information that I receive is from my timeline on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Before diving further into the Internet for information, much of the brief encounters that I receive for my news is from many of these social media platforms. As much as I would like to resist the urge to use social media, I feel as though that I would be missing out on everything happening around the world.
Hey Sophia!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you note that you have attempted to drastically decrease your use of social media but yet are very conscious of the fact that these have unfortunately been somewhat unsuccessful attempts. It has become a common practice nowadays almost judge one another and make assumptions about our peers based solely on whether they are up to date on the latest content that is being produced and reproduced on various social media platforms. What I will say is that I have become I aware that my personal perception of a peer *has* the potential to be altered due to our mutual knowledge, or lack thereof, of the latest viral content. This thought process baffled me due to the notion that we have somehow allowed the perceived knowledge of social media content to allow us to judge others.
Great post, very thought provoking!
I really enjoyed your blog post as I felt it was very relatable! I understand when you say that you have been tempted to resist using social media but still find yourself being caught up in it, as I feel as if I put myself in that position daily as I challenge myself to try to use less and less social media in a day to become more of a social human not in the digital world, but in the physical world. Personally, I stopped using twitter as to be quite honest the social anxiety built up with the idea of someone writing about every aspect of their life all day long. Generally, now I use Facebook and Instagram as my main forms of media and I try to limit myself from using them as much in hopes that I can depress that anxiety that is connected to social media itself.
ReplyDelete