Social Media, Our New Lifestyle
Opinions Of A Writer
On Saturday January, 27th 2018 I read, Hank Ketcham’s comic strip, Dennis the Menace. I look forward to reading The Hamilton Spectator on Saturdays while drinking a cup of coffee.
Reading Saturday’s entry got me thinking, how do we know when it’s time to set aside social media and join the playground fun? Do we still know how to effectively interact without a cell phone in hand? Is it still rude to tweet during your grocery check-out?
Don’t get me wrong, there are times when we can absolutely do both.
Social media is great, I couldn’t imagine connecting with people in different countries, across Canada and the US without it. And the information we are now exposed to is limitless. But, there is something to be said for a classic hello, maintaining eye contact, and holding conversations for longer than three minutes without flipping the phone.
On the other hand, social media is a big part of our life style.
We form friendships and business relationships with people we interact with on social media that are every bit as real as those forged through in-person interactions. – The Essential Social Media Marketing Hand Book – Gail Z. Martin
The question is no longer whether we should build relationships on the net or not, it’s how real are our interactions.
Dennis The Menace has a point, the playground is the perfect place to make friends. The conversations are face to face, the slide is a lifestyle, bullies don’t hide behind fake names, and to un-follow is a good old-fashioned black-eye.
robeccaaustin.com 
I think we may have to come to terms eventually – I guess time will tell.
However, I do concur with you currently that in order to make a “real” connection, we need have personal interactions with “real” people, world.
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I personally think part of the problem is just that our devices are so accessible. It makes it all the more easier to “connect” all the time but yet forget what’s actually in front of us. Also, the time that people do spend on social media is spent presenting themselves iuanthenticly to the virtual world…far more than what we present to the real world. When you really think about it, we carefully curate the content we share on these platforms to flaunt how put together or perfect our products and lives are. Most people often only share the perfect photos, or the positive and exciting experiences but rarely do we see the “real” day to day.
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Valid points. Also because we are building a brand around ourselves the “real” day to day may never be visible. I do think showing a little of yourself, the adds to authenticity and connects us to the reader.
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I couldn’t agree more. Social media is great but those real in-person interactions can sometimes be priceless. If we have our priorities straight and have a good balance of both, we will be able to continue to build real, healthy and lasting relationships while still enjoying all that social media has to offer.
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I enjoyed your perspectives very much, ‘what have we come to ?’
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It’s a balancing act. For us writers wanting to publish, we must learn to interact.
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