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Extra! Extra! Social Media Not Evil
November 20th, 2009 by Julia BolotinaThere has been a lot of fearmongering going around about the evils of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. I recently had a conversation with a friend where she brought up pretty much all of the usual objections, and we came up with some interesting conclusions as to why social media is… not evil.
Objection #1: Social media cheapens social interaction.
No, no it doesn’t. I’ve heard this one a lot, and it always makes my blood boil. Just because I tweet back and forth with someone I haven’t seen since high school does NOT mean that I put him on the same level as my best friend. Just because I like having people write on my wall does NOT mean that I am deluded into thinking that cyber-companionship is a substitute for the real deal.
Social interaction is just that, social. Letter-writing in 19th-century England did not help make upper-class society any less fake, and its absense today will not make ours any more fake. Social media helps us reconnect with people we haven’t seen in a long time, or find out more about people we know only casually, but there is no limit to how many people we can know or be in contact with at a given time; finding out more about one person does not magically cheapen our relationship with another.
Objection #2: Social media cheapens the value of communication.
Anyone who says this clearly hasn’t read Jane Austen. Writing a ten page letter does not make everything you write meaningful. This way, at least the nonesense people write is limited to 140 characters. Plus, it means that we don’t have to wait until we have 10-pages worth of information to share with our friends. We can give them real-time updates about the things we think are important, and they can respond, in real time. Social media also means that we can connect information in unheard-of ways. Instead of telling you that my friend’s sister’s husband’s daughter’s teacher thought Aroma was a good coffee shop, I can just link you to Lori’s review.
And, just like with relationships, updating Twitter won’t stop you from writing that Nobel-prize winning novel.
Objection #3: People spend too much time at their computers. They should go outside, get some exercise.
You’re a student, you know how easy it is to procrastinate. If you didn’t have Twitter to distract you, you’d find something else – something which probably wouldn’t tell you about what’s going on with the world and your friends. And, let’s face it, people hate exercise. Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that Facebook and Twitter are anything more than excuses.
Objection #4: I don’t need to hear about your breakfast.
Well ok, fine. Then again, as Steven Johnson pointed out, hearing that your friend decided to have ice-cream for breakfast can be more amusing than you think.
And let’s not forget that between all of the “mmm chicken soup” and “follow me!” updates, Twitter gives you some really meaningful information. I got real-time updates on the recent TTC track closure because I was following @bradTTC, their media communications guy (a priviledge that, before the age of Twitter, would have been limited to reporters); during the Iran election, I got to watch events unfolding in real time on my computer screen; and, let’s face it, hearing @stephenfry deliberate about whether he will make it to Manchester on time after his train was delayed is pretty cool too.
In the end, this is the example that decided matters: social media is like the printing press. Yes, each individual book is far from the work of art that was the illuminated manuscript, but look at the way it’s changed our world. Sure, a lot of what gets printed today is junk, but it’s worth putting up with if it means we also get to mine Salman Rushdie’s brain for less than $10. Twitter and other social media take this to a whole new level. They let us publish a lot of useless information, but they also let us learn about and interact with the world in real time, and in a way we never imagined.
Was my friend convinced? Hold on, I’ll Tweet her and ask…
November 20th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
These are excellent arguments. I think that people tend to not look past the junk and draw conclusions based on what they see.
November 21st, 2009 at 12:56 am
I agree. Whether we like it or not, social media is going to become more and more prevalent so we might as well embrace it for what it is and use to our advantage, many of which you’ve pointed out.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
but people do indeed spend way too much time on the computer. I personally think “I hate sports” or “I’m a student” are poor excuses for a person to make on his/her inability to balance regular exercise on top of a busy school/work schedule. My thinking is, if you can spend 5* minutes per day tweeting or facebooking, you can surely lend 5 minutes a week to go for a quick run around the block. Simple things like this goes a long in contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
(*we know the average person spends more than 5 minutes per day in a given social media platform).
Yes, people can of course, use other means to procrastinate without facebook or twitter, but let’s not jump to conclusions on hypothetical situations just to make ourselves feel better.
I think social media does take our time away from other aspects of our lives such as studying, I remember stumbling upon a “Because of Facebook, I’m failing out of college” facebook group–this type of attitude scares me, it’s like people are proud of the fact!
Inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle can increase risks of disease–surely you have heard of this before. If social media can somehow promote and disseminate facts on the importance of an active lifestyle effectively, then I will re-consider my views on S.M. But then again, how can you even track the results?
Nonetheless Julia, I appreciate this article and it’s an interesting POV.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Winnie,
I see your point, maybe I should clarify mine a bit. The thing is that, although it is nice to say that if we only diverted those five minutes spent on twitter to exercise, we would be healthier, this would simply never hapn. The reason we don’t exercise, the reason we pend too much time at our computers is not the internet but the fact that we just tend to be lazy (which is not a good reason, but that’s another matter). Think back to high school… I remember so many of my friends procrastinating by playing video games or watching TV, or even just spending hours on the phone. How is this any better than social media? Of course we should make our lifestyles less sedentary, but I don’t think that attacking social media is going to accomplish that. If we want to do this, we need to readjust our attitudes to life and time in general; if we do that, then we would, I think, also adjust how much time we spend on social media.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:54 pm
you make an excellent point, laziness is definitely the core problem here, that is why I wrote “‘I hate sports’ or ‘I’m a student’ are poor excuses for a person to make on his/her inability to balance regular exercise…etc”. I’m more concerned with how individuals, on average, are exercising less and less. And I ask now, is social media fueling this problem more? If so, what can we do?
And since you brought up procrastination: sure, the ultimate reason for procrastination (laziness) is the common theme here, but I feel proximate factors in contributing to procrastination (social media, tv, etc) are important to address…for example, video gaming is only a form of procrastination that appeals to a select group of the population, whereas facebook appeals to a much larger audience. It’s important to understand ‘why’ and not just focus on “How is procrastinating with [this] any different than procrastinating with [that]“…and I agree, procrastination is a poor habit to get into regardless of the source of said behaviour.
Well in anycase, the point I am making in this response isn’t about procrastination, nor was that the point of your article (afterall, I am communicating to you through a social medium so there is a lot of good!). It’s more interesting to look at how social media is changing the way we communicate and the way information is being disseminated, in which I am glad you have analyzed in your entry. And on that note, may I present you with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8 (like all youtube videos, take it with grain of salt, not sure if the stats are valid!)
November 25th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
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November 25th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
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November 29th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Excellent post, Julia!