I'm not here to post about how I just love to watch people but to make a point of how social media makes an impact on those when we/ they don't even know it.
I usually "check in" is what they call it on Facebook when I go to the airport. I might have an hour or two or even more before my flight so I find things to distract me from the last moments that seem so long before my departure.
As I currently sit at the airport waiting to fly home I am in another one of those situations. I called home and talked to my family for a while to kill time. I play around on Facebook, twitter and instagtam and my email and I can't help (usually) but share with at least one person what I see around me.
Until this class I didn't really think about how someone near or far from me could be talking about me through some form of social media. I do it all the time, last time I flew I sent a text to my friend saying how entertained I am by those who scramble to get on the plane right at boarding time. He agreed with me.
In my opinion people watching is a form of entertainment as basically stated above. I mean how many other people are posting about us on their apps or sharing with their friends what is going on via some electronic device.
I also look around and at least 75% of the people waiting to board the same plane as I am are on some electronic device and you can usually tell what someone is doing even from several feet away. Some are just texting, emailing watching some video or what not or maybe in rare situations they ate being productive.
Social media affects us, and those around us. People who travel together sometimes use their devices to communicate when they are just sitting right next to each other. People arent interacting with one another.
I'm not saying everyone has to make friends wherever they go but hey interact with those you know on a first person in front of you like basis.
What would people do without their electronic devices in places like buses, restaurants, airports!? I don't remember what I did for entertainment outside of when I was a child and had coloring books. Did people really communicate with each other to their faces!?
I appreciate the fact that we have several social media options and that they also can be used to share information on today's issues. Things like the elections coming up, occupy wall street and so on. I like the fact that my friends post things when I don't take the time to look up info on my own when I can read an article or video they have posted which can be made viral.
I may miss the way we used to always communicate, person to person more than just the device to device type thing we deal with but I also appreciate what I have.
I recently read an article having to do with the tweeting world and how one tweet can make a huge difference especially in "followership" is what I call it. An 18 year old girl posted a tweet about something she said to the Governor of the state of Penn., in the end she said she didn't really give the governor a piece of her mind she just shared her thoughts via twitter. His office complained not knowing that she had such a small readership but after this her number of followers increased to about 15,000. At the time that she sent this tweet she had 60 followers. One tweet about a state governor can increase the number of followers. ONE TWEET. When the mother of this daughter was questioned she said that she raised her kids to be independent...that they can tweet whatever opinion they want. A mother attended one of the local school board meetings and mentioned that they can't stifle their kids free speech and that this is how they communicate.
https://apps.facebook.com/wpsocialreader/me/channels/trending/content/k0mok?fb_action_ids=2571754367633&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=recent_activity
From the example above we can see again that social media can spread little things like wildfire and like the mother said this is how teenagers communicate. Today's times have definitely changed from just years ago.
Our devices are tools and we can use them to stay in contact with those we care about OR shut out the world at large. I would imagine the lonely housewife on the prairie or in the west in 1870 would have loved to have talked to a friend or family member during an especially boring winter storm. We should appreciate what we have.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Thank you for sharing.