Social Media as a Part of Modern Society

The scale and impact of social media on our lives is nothing short of revolutionary. Its expansive and endless status updates, images, words, phrases, jokes, memes and tweets are passing back and forth in real time.

The latest news of celebrities, current football scores, births, deaths, marriages, and endless pictures of someone’s cat or dog are bombarding us with information that we can choose to filter out if we so wish.

It still is unbelievable that only about one in ten use these filters within Facebook to silence or mute certain individuals or “demote” them to acquaintances – thus reducing the amount of presence on our newsfeed.

Parents are also using the platforms of social media to closely monitor the activities of their children. The revolution that has become social media has hit upon us all like a crashing wave that has washed into the very fabric of our society.

Just 20 years ago, social media had barely even begun. There may have been a modicum of interest from websites like Friends Reunited and My Space, which sought to allow folk to share what they have been up to since leaving school. Myspace was more or less a website adopted by musicians and for emerging bands. But the idea soon became a bubble that had burst by the tweets and “anyone can join in” fun of Facebook.

It has changed the dynamic of how relationships on social media have formed. We have friends on our friends list who would have never made it into our telephone directory notebook, kept so much to hand during the 20thcentury.

But the internet – as well as social media in particular – is like comparing the Wild West of America. When it was first dabbled with by pioneers and start up communities, it was lawless, unpoliced and wild as a coyote wandering the Great Plains. The internet was very much like that too in the early years of the 21stcentury, but here we are today and the regulations and control have slowly begun to emerge into our daily lives.

Privacy on the net has been placed into check by the EU with the regulation of GDPR. A directive that gives each person a choice of how their own data is used. It also allows users to demand any personal data on themselves be deleted.

Social media is not all dark and overly consuming. There are many groups and clubs that form every day on social media to help those into cooking, fitness, health-related diseases, photography, football fans and reality television enthusiasts.

It is a way of bringing people together but not in a physical way, more an online experience.

 

 

Only time will tell how the youth of today respond to a world where they have grown up using social media. Millennials will not know or understand that once people gathered in pubs and bars and even in the park to socialise, chat and organise get-togethers. Just as the Baby Boomer generation don’t get that teenagers of the 1950s would all hang out at a local café, milk shake bar or burger joint.

But can we blame social media on the health concerns and issues arising within children today? It might be grossly unfair to blame it all on one thing, like Facebook or Instagram, because a well-organised life will account for gym time, play periods, homework, social media time and sleep.

But the urge to see if anyone has “liked” that picture you posed for in front of your mirror, two hours later, when you should be asleep, is unyielding. Moreover, many parents might be online too.

Social media was never meant to be so powerful. Its development and concept – and we are certain Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder would agree – was to create, connect and communicate with the list of chosen friends and family as a means of keeping up to date about our community, the world we live in and sharing your story to those around you.

 To a larger extent, it does work this way and most find it a very positive experience. But something this big is not always going to be a wonderful, fulfilling and an enlightening experience.

Just as the Wild West was in its early years – a new and frightening world but one that is laden with opportunity – and something that developed into well-managed communities, big cities, prosperous economies and healthier relationships.

Society eventually found a way to stop the gunfights down at the OK Corral and there will be a time when trolling, grooming and dark web activities of social media will be nullified too.

The outstanding adaptability of humans allows us to change and learn how to immerse into new ideologies and change to keep the pace of modern life with consummate ease.