Easy Come, Easy Go.
I felt that Queen represented the topic I am about to speak on, best. Social media interactions vs reality.
We live in a society that technology has really taken over. Everyone carries around a mini computer and can be contacted instantly no matter where they are. Well most, for those of us who keep our phones on silent and are not attached at the hip, more often than not people get upset if we don't answer within 2 minutes....
This post may be very opinionated. I do not apologize for that because people probably need to hear what I have to say.
Sitting in a room full of people, grown adults, not even of the millennial generation that so often are shamed for their use of technology, attempting to have a face to face conversation only to be ignored for a cell phone.....
The art of real conversation has been lost.
They now have a social skills class for our younger generations to teach conversation skills such as eye contact, body languages, tone of voice and active listening skills because parents and family members are not teaching that anymore. Eyes down on a screen while being spoken to is the new "listening", texting and emojis are the new conversation.
How many times have you called someone only to be texted the instant the call ends to ask what you wanted? There are memes floating around the internet that joke about not calling because you don't use a phone for that.
What has changed?
I am only 29 years old. I have grown up in the generation that had the technology change and boom. I am raising children in the generation of not knowing what life is like without it. Somehow I am raising them to not be interested in social media. My 11 year old could give a rats ass about having Facebook, Instagram or any type of account. He isn't even interested in playing video games online. I am no stranger to these platforms. I use many for marketing and entertainment daily, he is not sheltered from it, he owns an ipad, xbox etc... he is just wired differently and I am proud of that. We had an appointment a few weeks back for paediatrics ophthalmology ( Apollo has a rare genetic disorder that effects his eyes) My children being the oldest in the waiting room, were the ONLY children in the play area playing with the millions of cool toys the have. Babies as young as 6 months were stuck in front of screens so they didn't "disturb" the rest of the waiting room. Makes sense why we have that social skills class now doesn't it?
We just don't need to be as personal and transparent and people think we do.
Quite frankly there is no sign or mention of my pregnancy on any other platform. I did not do some crazy announcement nor did I feel the need to post an update of my belly week by week. (@Artemisnorth had already mentioned it here so there was no need to keep it private I guess) Many people were not told I was expecting because unless we spoke regularly I didn't feel the need to have that conversation with them. My bible study group didn't find out until I was almost 25 weeks along and I was already showing.
The instant gratification and attention that is received by telling everyone, every aspect and detail of your life satisfies the need for human interaction. But it does not and should not replace it. Many people are depressed because they have little to no real humans they can contact. Video gamers are shamed for sitting and playing online all day doing "nothing" but what is the difference to that person sitting there on their computer or cell phone all day?
This brings me to Steemit. I do not see this as any different than Facebook. People can argue the blockchain and "earnings" aspect of it, which is evident there is potential to make a good chunk of coin, But at what point do we draw the line between having our faces shoved in a screen all day posting, commenting, talking on discord to get the pocket change we received for doing so? Is the few dollars people are making worth more than a face to face human interaction? Is it worth more than making a phone call to make plans to see someone who is important to you?
Just like any other aspect of life we need to prioritize what is most important. To some this could be their only human interaction they receive. To others the money factor may very well be the driver. As for me, it is a platform like any other to post on. I have received some underhanded comments about not posting regularly, But when I did my boyfriends beat challenge and posted every day it was " well that isn't your own personal content"
There is no winning. There are social media snobs on every single platform. No difference here.
So next time you are in a room with REAL LIVE PEOPLE, you should think twice before you pull your cell phone out, think of how it makes them feel, expecting a conversation or active listening from you and you can't even make eye contact.
XOXO
