What do you think? Do you think it helps or makes us less social overall?
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I think it helps. Back in middle school before i had a cell phone i would talk to all of my friends on facebook or myspace
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I agree, but it seems like irl interactions are becoming less and less. So I can see it both ways
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It seems to me like a lot of things, part of a balanced life it could be good.
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I think its damaging social skills
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I have made about ten new IRL friends to go paddle boarding with over the summer. This was through a Facebook group. Now several of us are going on winter hikes. Social media was a great way to find people with similar interests to Do The Things with.
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I may be confusing it with screen time. Social media may improve social skills by adding more variations of social elements whereas screen time reduces this unless itās social.
Iām thinking about my nephews and their screen time - Iāve seen research on it, but I donāt pay too much attention to it
I donāt use any social media. In my personal experience itās full of people dick waving saying how great they are, posting dumb photos with filters on. But I was born before the Internet took off.
I think itās especially damaging at times, to impressionable teens that have a desire to fit in, that donāt have the maturity to deal with negative comments. And you donāt need to look far to see it gives them self body issues, when they see their latest favorite influencer a size 8, not knowing itās probably faked for the benefit of the Internet and clicks.
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Overall, I do believe that social media has improved human relations.
Some of the pros:
This website (which I consider social media) has made it possible for people with sz/sza to communicate with each other in real-time on a global scale. I think thatās a good thing.
Social media has made it easier to access news, which is especially useful during natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. Social media has increased government transparency and facilitated national conversations.
Some of the cons:
Social media has facilitated the spread of misinformation, allowing people with bad intentions to communicate with each other in real-time on a global scale. Social media may reduce our in-person communication skills.
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I think it has improved human relations in someway but have worsened them in other ways. You can keep in touch with people from all over the world and see whatās going on in their life. As some have mentioned itās a great way to make new friends.
From personal experience, Iāve noticed people on their phones when theyāre out to dinner. Iāve also been to a party and everyone had their noses in their phones. I think in certain areas it has done more bad for human relationships.
Another aspect is we curate our social medias to make us look as good as possible, and itās hard to not get envious of people who go on a lot of vacations while I can barely afford to eat for the month. Thatās a me problem, I know, but itās still hard to not get jealous.
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Tik-tok is the bane of human existence, literally. We are what we our awareness allows us to be.
Awareness matters, and that is is derived from attention span and cognitive health.
I think social media will continue to worsen relationships among people, until people find real boundaries and consequences. I would think the best friendships come from people who are at the border of our boundaries, who make themselves felt and heard, the ones who are genuine with their words.
You will know your real friends when you find those consequences, because they will jump into the fire with you, out of their own reasons or sense of duty, not because of you, but out of something impartial and important to them.
We forget that people thrive and grow under conflict, but not toxicity. When we are allowing people to create or receive unresolved conflict, then it becomes toxic to the mind/soul. Social media is a instrument of surveillance and simultaneously used to create toxins, I would think that any good that has come out of it has come from open minded people who are willing to take a risk on other people, if out of curiosity, if nothing else.
Perhaps we should be thanking them, and not the existence of the internet/social media?
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Itās a mixed bag I thinkā¦
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I think it helps and hurts.
One thing thats weird to me is in in person social interactions people that have liked my posts will avoid social interaction and people in general arent generous with likes so id think they would be more open socially when they have liked my stuff. Just saying the in person same people vs social media activity social interactions are interesting and weird too. I notice this at jiu-jitsu competitions with facebook friends for example.
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I struggle a lot when it comes to F2F social interaction. Unlike many here it wasnāt a case of losing friends when I became severely mentally ill. There were no friends to lose. The vast majority of my interaction with others is via social media and online forums. Aside from seeing my chosen family regularly I do not socially interact F2F with anyone. The falls I had in October 2021 have,despite a hip replacement , reduced my ability to get out and about. Hence even more so since the falls Iām reliant on social media /online forums etc to fill in the gaps when my chosen family are unable to see me.
Although I have no F2F friends I have over 330 FB āfriendsā (down from 350 plus, most probably because I recently criticised the worldās most well known wearer of orange coloured foundation.) Twitter/X 872 followers 877 followed.
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I am removed from social media
Only use two forums
Donāt really class forums as social media but someone might know the answer better than I do
Between the family feuds made publicly available for all to see, the toxic comments section and people showing off, decided that was not good for me
My life is a relatively simple one these days, and I want to keep it like that
I am just sad family relations are in the state they are
Have not seen or spoken to the majority of my mothers side since my nans funeral in January 2023
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Itās all different social media. āLinkedInā are for professional, āXā are for politics, āfacebookā are for family and friends, āinstgramā are for fun, though it serves other purpose also.
Its as simple as watching porn and doing it for real !
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I love facebookā¦keeps me up on family and friendsā¦thatās the only interest I have on thereā¦except when we foster strays for the community page.
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