More and more people are speaking out and trying to raise awareness of the addictive and detrimental effect that social media (which comprises of so-called social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, among others) has on people. And we are not just talking about some conspiracy theorists, or conservatives who oppose all technological progress. Many people working in the industry itself are speaking out. Developers, managers... people deeply involved in the creation and development of these social media platforms.
People are glued to their cellphones. In many places, when you look at people hanging out, even in situations where they would normally, in the past, have been having a conversation among themselves, or paying attention to what's happening around them, are instead twiddling with their cellphones. In some places it has got so bad that even people walking on the street will be staring at their cellphone, sometimes causing danger to themselves and others. (Some cities have even gone so far as to put traffic lights on the ground at crosswalks, to lessen these dangers.)
Social media websites have been deliberately designed to be as addictive as possible. (As some developers of these websites have spoken out, they didn't explicitly and deliberately try to make society so addicted to cellphones and social media as for it to become actually dangerous and detrimental. It just kind of happened, when they tried to maximize engagement, clicks and retainment.) People treat their cellphones like it's a drug. They constantly keep it at their side (eg. on the table) even when not using it, and are oftentimes even constantly fiddling with it, and constantly checking the screen to see if there are any new notifications or messages. Oftentimes even in situations where they should be paying attention to something else (such as a speech or important lecture.) Studies have come out indicating that the cellphone is a distraction even when nothing is happening with it; it's enough for it to be there.
Likewise study after study is coming out how this cellphone and social media addiction is having a detrimental effect, especially on young people. People are learning less and less real-life social skills, and are becoming more and more addicted (in the literal physical sense) to positive feedback, and thus, conversely, becoming more and more sensitive to negative feedback, criticism, and even just mere lack of feedback, which often results in over-reaction, tantrums, anxiety and depression. (In other words, they are becoming more and more of spoiled brats.) Their attention span is also decreasing.
There's probably a very good reason that most of these tech company CEOs don't allow their own young children to own and use smartphones and tablets. They are very aware of what it causes.
I have been thinking that I'm actually quite lucky that I can in all honesty say that I have pretty much zero addiction to smartphones and social media.
The only social media account I have is on Facebook, and even that one I had to create due to my work, not because I wanted. My list of "friends" there is extremely minimal, consisting of like ten people. (In fact, the list used to be larger, but at some point I purged the majority of it, removing all very old acquaintances I haven't been in contact with in years, old work contacts, and so on.) In fact, my list of friends there is so small that my Facebook feed is empty most of the time (because even those people don't post much.) If I get one notification a day of a new post, that's an unusually large amount.
I do have a smartphone, but I really don't use it for much. I don't like touchscreen-based smartphone games (even though I'm otherwise a very avid gamer), and thus I pretty much never play anything on it. For a long time I didn't even have the Facebook app installed, but some time ago I did install it in order to be better able to communicate with our MtG playgroup (even this happens very rarely, mostly once a week to see if there will be a game session.)
Many people can't go for a minute without checking their phone. If they forget their phone somewhere not in their vicinity (eg. in the pocket of their jacket, which is in the coat rack), they notice it in mere minutes. I often do exactly that, and can go for the entire day without even noticing that I don't have it with me inside the house (or at work, or at someone else's house). Often if someone calls me, I have to hurry to get it from my jacket before they give up.
Even on the PC side I don't really check Facebook that often (because, as said, there's very rarely anything new there). And as said, I don't have any other social media accounts. (I do read and participate in a couple of online forums, and I do have a couple of friends in Discord.)
When thinking about this, at first I thought that "I'm quite lucky I'm not addicted to social media even though I'm a very technologically adept person, and interested in all things technological".
But then the thought occurred to me: What if it's not "even though", but "because"? Could it perhaps be that the more technologically adept you are, the more technological knowledge you have and, perhaps ironically, the more interested you are in technology, the less likely you are to become addicted to social media?
If the correlation is indeed in that direction, a more cynical person might argue that it's not really the interest in technology, but the lack of socialization and social skills that often comes along with it. Whatever the case may be, I suppose I'm lucky that social media can't get a hold on me.
People are glued to their cellphones. In many places, when you look at people hanging out, even in situations where they would normally, in the past, have been having a conversation among themselves, or paying attention to what's happening around them, are instead twiddling with their cellphones. In some places it has got so bad that even people walking on the street will be staring at their cellphone, sometimes causing danger to themselves and others. (Some cities have even gone so far as to put traffic lights on the ground at crosswalks, to lessen these dangers.)
Social media websites have been deliberately designed to be as addictive as possible. (As some developers of these websites have spoken out, they didn't explicitly and deliberately try to make society so addicted to cellphones and social media as for it to become actually dangerous and detrimental. It just kind of happened, when they tried to maximize engagement, clicks and retainment.) People treat their cellphones like it's a drug. They constantly keep it at their side (eg. on the table) even when not using it, and are oftentimes even constantly fiddling with it, and constantly checking the screen to see if there are any new notifications or messages. Oftentimes even in situations where they should be paying attention to something else (such as a speech or important lecture.) Studies have come out indicating that the cellphone is a distraction even when nothing is happening with it; it's enough for it to be there.
Likewise study after study is coming out how this cellphone and social media addiction is having a detrimental effect, especially on young people. People are learning less and less real-life social skills, and are becoming more and more addicted (in the literal physical sense) to positive feedback, and thus, conversely, becoming more and more sensitive to negative feedback, criticism, and even just mere lack of feedback, which often results in over-reaction, tantrums, anxiety and depression. (In other words, they are becoming more and more of spoiled brats.) Their attention span is also decreasing.
There's probably a very good reason that most of these tech company CEOs don't allow their own young children to own and use smartphones and tablets. They are very aware of what it causes.
I have been thinking that I'm actually quite lucky that I can in all honesty say that I have pretty much zero addiction to smartphones and social media.
The only social media account I have is on Facebook, and even that one I had to create due to my work, not because I wanted. My list of "friends" there is extremely minimal, consisting of like ten people. (In fact, the list used to be larger, but at some point I purged the majority of it, removing all very old acquaintances I haven't been in contact with in years, old work contacts, and so on.) In fact, my list of friends there is so small that my Facebook feed is empty most of the time (because even those people don't post much.) If I get one notification a day of a new post, that's an unusually large amount.
I do have a smartphone, but I really don't use it for much. I don't like touchscreen-based smartphone games (even though I'm otherwise a very avid gamer), and thus I pretty much never play anything on it. For a long time I didn't even have the Facebook app installed, but some time ago I did install it in order to be better able to communicate with our MtG playgroup (even this happens very rarely, mostly once a week to see if there will be a game session.)
Many people can't go for a minute without checking their phone. If they forget their phone somewhere not in their vicinity (eg. in the pocket of their jacket, which is in the coat rack), they notice it in mere minutes. I often do exactly that, and can go for the entire day without even noticing that I don't have it with me inside the house (or at work, or at someone else's house). Often if someone calls me, I have to hurry to get it from my jacket before they give up.
Even on the PC side I don't really check Facebook that often (because, as said, there's very rarely anything new there). And as said, I don't have any other social media accounts. (I do read and participate in a couple of online forums, and I do have a couple of friends in Discord.)
When thinking about this, at first I thought that "I'm quite lucky I'm not addicted to social media even though I'm a very technologically adept person, and interested in all things technological".
But then the thought occurred to me: What if it's not "even though", but "because"? Could it perhaps be that the more technologically adept you are, the more technological knowledge you have and, perhaps ironically, the more interested you are in technology, the less likely you are to become addicted to social media?
If the correlation is indeed in that direction, a more cynical person might argue that it's not really the interest in technology, but the lack of socialization and social skills that often comes along with it. Whatever the case may be, I suppose I'm lucky that social media can't get a hold on me.
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