https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HffWFd_6bJ0
Hey friends! This is a YouTube video by asapscience, which delves into the science behind virtual social media and how it affects our brains. This is only one branch of a very big topic about our smarts being disengaged thanks to the Internet, but I believe this is super relevant to us because (I'm assuming) all four of us engage, to some extent, in social media.
My thoughts:
Social media is stripping us of our ability to communicate face-to-face, and I believe this is more true for those who were given access to social media during early childhood years. I think it's an amazing opportunity to be able to speak to anyone, anywhere, all of the time via the Internet...but it is changing our ability to speak in real time with other humans. Social media allows us to edit ourselves, to take as much time as we need answering people, or to simply not answer them at all. Exhibiting such behaviors in person is not nearly as socially acceptable. It's complicated, and there are so many pros and cons to social media, but I personally feel that it is negatively affecting our ability to talk to people like we were once able to long before the Internet came around. What are your thoughts?
-Julie
As a public speaking instructor and trainer, I can completely agree with your claim!
ReplyDeleteGenerations to follow will be born with technology in their hands, seemingly making human interactions virtual. My sister, at the meek age of 8, had an iPad, an iPod and just two years later, a smartphone. Dinner table conversations have not been an option in my house for some time now as it is a time when my sister and I tend to our phones (whether it's checking social media, playing MineCraft or texting), my father watches television on the couch, and my mother remains readily available for business calls. Our time is becoming less and less valuable because we are using it to actively or passively attend to technology and media. At the end of the day, humans need stimulation and to what extent does technology genuinely fulfill that?
I think social media should be used as a technological advantage but not a crutch! So many kids are relying on social media to build their personality. Little to they know, you cannot develop consistent character behind a computer screen because there is still a human interaction component to being human that needs to be considered.
Below is an article published by The Huffington Post explaining the impact of technology on the developing minds of the youth. The technology that kids are accessing has an affect on cognitive and sensorimotor processes in children that may have a lasting affect, especially if technology continues to run their lives.
The article contains two very interesting pyramids that represent the virtual lives of those individuals whom abuse technology and use technology as the way it is intended. But that poses another question; in what is the intended use of technology and social media? Is it to enhance your life and your interactions? I am intrigued to know your thoughts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cris-rowan/technology-children-negative-impact_b_3343245.html
Additionally, technology is endangering our lives!! As mentioned in, "How the Internet is Changing Our Brain", individuals have the ability to add technology to every part of their lives. This, at times, can enhance their safety (such as handsfree voice command devices) but the amount of deaths from using cell phones to check things like social media are spiking. We have become so used to checking our phones at anytime, that when that phone buzzes or rings for whatever reason our brains automatically switch to that and we cannot help but look at the screen. It actually takes effort to not pick up the phone while driving, or even in less life-threatening situations like classes or meetings. I wouldn't use the word stupidity to describe the affect technology has on us but it is making us victims of communal and automated processing that doesn't allow us to think for ourselves. As time goes on and science continues to evolve, we are losing more and more control of our own minds and individualistic abilities.
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ReplyDeleteI also agree, since the inception of social media, more than any other technological development in the 21st Century, social etiquette, mannerism, respect & concern for others has suffered. People are more eager to record a horrific event they are witnessing before they bother to help or contact the proper authorities and report the event. In addition, cyber bullying is on the rise along with suicide victims of the cyber bullying[1]. It is a sad moment in our society when we can accept this type of behavior as the “norm”. Which is why I feel very strongly that stricter guidelines should be enforced by both parents and educational institutions to display a clear indication that such behavior is intolerable. Often video clips of kids bullying one another is shared on social media, where in some instance the bullying is done in a school cafeteria. Every one of the school staff present during this type of behavior should be held responsible for not addressing it and reporting it immediately.
ReplyDelete[1] http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html