Social Media

I was asked to answer this question on Quora and did so in a matter of moments – it was an easy question for me. After I did – I suddenly realized how profoundly this situation bothered me. And, also, that I had finally been able to quantify what it is about the constant stream of VISUALS pictures and videos that I see on Facebook (social media) in particular. I remember a time, when the pictures were tiny, thumbnails almost. Then Google+ came out and their pictures were – well, it seemed to me – GINORMOUS and frankly garish! Facebook not to be outdone – soon made their updates and suddenly the newsfeed was no longer a newsfeed – it was instead a cartoon strip. People were no longer writing to each other – instead they were posting funny meme’s about how they didn’t have time to write but this picture oughta do it! And I started seeing it in sales, too. No written descriptions, just pictures. How is a person like me, used to searching and comparing going to find these items if there are no words of descriptions (and don’t say photo searching – most people need to learn how to crop before I go this route.)

What is one negative trend in society caused by the emerging usage of social media?

Perhaps, the negative trend I’m about to mention is only negative to me. I won’t mention the other issues that have already been covered - such as withdrawing from real encounters with people. Having friends, you cannot interact with, etc.

Here is the one negative trend I see that was first shaped by cell phones and now is being finely honed by social media. It’s 2 parts:

1. Cell phone users/Social Media users (in the extreme) do not have the patience to wait for an answer. Furthermore, they seem to think that it’s normal to expect answers immediately. It doesn’t matter if they are expecting an answer from their spouse, who is currently on duty as a military soldier during a battle and, well, gosh, doesn’t really have time for a text message; or that they are expecting an answer from their BFF, who is currently at work and not supposed to be using her cell phone on the sales floor. The expected answer should come now! And if it doesn’t…what does that mean to them? Is spouse cheating? Is BFF out with a new friend? 

2. In addition to the rudeness in expectations - they expect the answer to be short -- readable in 3 seconds or less. This means your response must either be A. all abbreviations B. a picture or C. a video. So, in some ways, this second part is just an extension of the first part because: Impatience - these impatient people do not want to read lengthy replies that’s too much work and it takes too long. They want an answer that takes only a second or two to absorb. We all know that those short text often leads to misunderstandings. The misunderstandings are a fallout communications issue separate from this “constant and immediate” need thing.

I would like to offer advice to everyone - stop checking on people 10 times a day. Limit your checks to your children (and even then, do not check on them when they are in school – you are encouraging them to use their cell phones and not focus on education) or elderly frail parents only. The checks do not mean you love the other person and are concerned for their welfare – I simply do not buy that - the checks mean you are bored, suspicious, and disrespectful of the other person’s time away from you, and cannot wait until the end of the day to have a conversation with them.