The first objective is that social media is a fundamental technology. Social media is in fact not a fundamental technology, but simply just a source of entertainment. This objective is nothing more than a preference. Saying social media is a fundamental technology is no different than Cal's example of, "I prefer to watch cable series, opposed to network television series". Social media is an unsavory source of entertainment, that we become addicted to and think of as a fundamental source.
The second objective is that social media is vital to peoples success in the 21st century economy. People believe that others won't know who they are, or won't be able to find them, and that opportunity won't come their way because of this. Newport explains to us that the professional world does not connect with people due to their social media for opportunity. The professional work world is looking for people with a valuable deep work ethic. Many people nowadays do not have that ability to produce something rare, and valuable that the market will notice. Considering social media is easy to replicate, developing a social media is no longer valued. As Cal states, "Any 16 year old with a smartphone can do that". For example, today our professional field is looking for someone who can write a legal brief that can change a case.
The third objective is that social media is harmless and fun. Some claim they don't use it much, or if they don't check in on it they may miss out on something. We all are aware social media can be fun, but we are also aware that it can and does cause harm. Social media is known for being addictive, and appealing all the time to our brains. This addiction is harming our attention span, which can harm us in our professional lives. Due to social media, our attention is spending a large amount of time in a fragmented state. Every time we log onto our social media to check in, we are putting out attention else where, and actually permanently reducing our attention span. We are also aware that social media causes psychological harm. It is a place where we feel lonely and isolated. The constant exposure to our friends positive post can cause depression on ourselves. Most importantly, social media is the home of anxiety. Newport went and spoke to college campus counseling centers and learned that most explosive anxiety disorders are actually due to our smartphones and social media.
After watching and really listening to this Ted Talk, I have a better understanding of why I personally need to out down the social media. Quitting social media is like detoxing from a drug. It may make you anxious and uncomfortable but once that is over, you will feel so much better. I need to be kind to myself and give myself a break from this, as Newport would call it, "nonsense". I am in a state of my life where I have lots of free time when I am not in class, that is consumed by social media. I think it would help my well being and self confidence if I did take a step down from my smartphone and pick up a book instead. I did just buy a book about self love and better yourself, so this semester, starting now, I am making a vow to myself to unplug every once and a while.
I challenge all of you to watch the TED Talk I provided, and tell me that does not make you want to just unplug. There are people out there who can do it, and I believe it is benefiting them in more ways than we know.
This is a fascinating topic, and something that I think will be discussed heavily in the years to come. Personally, I find myself agreeing with the side that proposes that social media is harmful, and that we as a society should move away from it. However, I think that this, as with most things, comes down to moderation. Social media (in my opinion), or more specifically the overindulgence of it, can be somewhat harmful to someone's psyche/thought process. The need for instant gratification and attention can lead to people doing things not because they want to do it, but because they feel like doing certain things will net them the most amount of attention from their perceived audience. I agree with the third objective you spoke of, when it comes to the effect it may have on our attention spans. Not that it hurts, or deteriorates our attention spans, but that it provides a quick and easy fix for our attention. We have always sought out certain outlets to focus our attention on, but never has it been so easy to tap out and pick up a phone/tablet/laptop. Whether or not we should eliminate social media as a whole is certainly debatable, but I think keeping our use in moderation is something we should all be looking to do.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, this post is so well-written and organized! I very much enjoyed reading it, really thorough job. I think out of all of Cal's points, the one I disagree with most is that professionals do not look at our social media accounts. Why are we told from a young age to be semi-professional online, then? I know he's a professional, but I just don't buy that our social media accounts don't matter. Whenever I see an Insta photo of an 18 or 19 year old with an emoji sticker over their drink, I think, "Really? Didn't you think before you posted that?" Perhaps I sound like my father, but I was taught to use social media to my advantage (besides my Twitter, where I retweet anything and everything that makes me laugh, but then again, my Twitter handle isn't my name, so it'd be hard for an employer to find me). Before I turned 21, I was very careful about posing for pictures and avoiding being photographed with people doing things I didn't want to be associated with. Does anyone disagree? Am I being a goody two shoes about my social media pages? I'd be intrigued to hear what you think.
ReplyDeleteI definitely like going into this topic thoroughly because I have seemed to pay attention more to my own technology use, as well as the others around me more carefully. I do not consider myself too connected to technology, being that I feel I rely on my phone less than the average cell phone user. Although I do find myself to be watching television frequently, and using my laptop during class as well as to do my work at home. It is prominent in our society to use technology in our daily lives, but can be excessive based on the individual. I do find myself checking my phone when I have to stand in a public place, or fill my attention with something for a short period of time. This is something that is automatic for me and I feel a lot of others because it is just something we have adapted to in order to keep ourselves busy. I feel that excessive technology use can definitely be detrimental. For example: say you're out to dinner with friends and you have one friend that seems to always be on his or her phone while the rest of the group is having a conversation. This can also include how negatively technology is looked on by older generations because it is common for kids in this digital age to be inside on their phones, ipads or laptops more often then being outside. Another thing that I feel is excessive but quite normal in our society is having to film or photograph every second of their lives. This can prevent you from experiencing things in your own eyes and truly living in the moment. Eliminating social media, in my opinion, would be drastic for most people. Whether you are a student, or working a full/part time job you are bound to be using technology frequently throughout your day. Whether we like it or not, our society has become way too intertwined with technology to eliminate it entirely. At this point it would be impossible for humans to thrive unless they relied on the technology that they do. That doesn't mean we can't try to minimize our technology use and try to live in the moment more often. Technology in doses is what I am trying to institute more in my life. I feel that this can be beneficial to anyone, given that it is important sometimes to make sure to take the time to slow down and enjoy the natural surroundings.
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ReplyDeleteThis topic is very important to read about! I thought your blog post was very well written and explained everything in depth. I relate to this blog post a lot because I have thought about taking some off of social media. Yet, after reading this it gave me more of a push to get started. The first objective I do agree with because I do use social media for my entertainment. Yet, now in today’s world, we have news on all of our social media. In that case of seeing news articles on Snapchat or trending news on twitter can make social media more of a fundamental tool.
ReplyDeleteThe second objective is relevant mostly to our generation because yes there are many teenagers/young adults that are getting recognized and famous on social media. Although, it is not a vital to have a large presence on social media to get a job. It takes hard work and a good work ethic to get a job. I completely agree with what he is saying in this objective because I think that deleting or making my social media more professional will help me in the long run.
A lot of people I know do a month-long social media detox and feel that it is beneficial. I think that it is important to look at all of these objectives and decide what you want to do with social media. I feel like if I deleted my social media I would be missing out on something, or that my family from other states won’t be able to see what I am doing and check-in. It is very anxiety-provoking to delete social media all at once. It is something that I would have to work on little by little to achieve because I know that there are great benefits in doing so.