The Problems of Social Media and Texting
Talk about attention seeking behavior. Look at Facebook. During the 1950's a social psychologist found that 90% of people like to have their picture taken. To me, this suggests many possibilities. One is the quest for mortality or even validation of their existence. But, I believe that much of this stems from the lack of attention we receive as children and what kind of attention was it. Was it loving or hateful? There are other kinds of course but these extremes illustrate the issue well enough for now. Regardless, there just isn't enough attention to go around, so many compete for it. Often using the kind they are most familiar with, either loving, hateful or whatever they know. Often there is no substance to their message or it is incorrect and this imbalance needs to be corrected
Since we can't create more attention, we must lower the demand. Again, we must look at emotional memory for the solution and it will take time and effort.
This desire has spawned an enormous social media presence; paving the way for more communication through computers. The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic has further encouraged this and we have considered how this will affect our relationships and even quality of communication. Personally, the least intimate form of communication I can endure are phone calls. This is for several reasons. Currently, I cannot meet people is person, but more importantly the communication is fluid. I often think of something to add when I speak of a related topic. Speaking is also part of thinking, since we must organize each thought before it is spoken. That isn't the case is emails, since they can be edited and the topic is constrained. This limitation won't create innovation only computer-like communication.
Our technological advancement is affecting different age groups in different ways. For those who finished school before the laptop, these changes are demanding; making some feel as though society has left them behind. Surfing Social Media often represents the extent of their computer skills; especially if their work doesn't require them. Unfortunately, this group is unfamiliar with the twists and turns created my unsubstantiated claims, while those who grew up with Social Media easily avoid these rabbit holes and generally ignore baseless claims. Therefore, there are increasing amounts of inaccurate information which is terribly ironic since the whole of human knowledge is available to anyone and yet many of us ignore that to find information that reinforces our beliefs...regardless of the truth of the matter. These tainted opinions often create conflict; making the quality of our communication worse.
In addition, most
communication is non-verbal and much of this is also lost. Body language, tone of voice and volume are all missing using social media. We use it a lot because it is fast and efficient. We can
send infinite amounts of data... all without any emotional content. We might
express emotions through additional text or add emojis, but these fall short. Sarcasm is
often misunderstood and may eventually vanish as a form of communication
because of our new reliance on texting.
We will communicate more and more
in this way and we might find that doing this increases our sensitivity within
interpersonal contacts. We may find conflicts are more painful simply because
they are less common. In fact, many of us may find ourselves with lower
frustration and anger thresholds. The simple conflicts will become magnified
and the big ones will become even bigger. We will stress out more easily and our
happiness levels will suffer. The brevity and lack of politeness also seems to
be creeping into our non-cyber lives. We are becoming less polite and by doing
so; we shorten our interactions.
Without tone, sarcasm can seem threatening
or hostile and direct language may be misunderstood. Computers will improve and
we will all have cameras in them soon, but we will still be less transparent.
The emotional portion of the communication will be dependent on the feelings of
the sender and receiver being roughly the same.
For volume we can (((shout))) using
parenthesis, or use caps or Bold typeface, but then we are either talking or shouting with no middle ground.
Cameras will improve this as well, but we are becoming disconnected to each
other. We now consider a phone call intimate, when twenty years before it was
considered impersonal. We also lose pacing as hose long silence as well. This is unfortunate since all of the things outside of the actual words convey meaning, or should I say they once did.
Computers are a part of life but we
need to be aware of the limitations and somehow adapt. Otherwise what is the
point of our existence as a social species? Some expect that artificial
Intelligence will correct the strict rationality of technology, but there are
still questions. Will the programmers be honest and benevolent and how will we
watch them, especially if the programs are watching us.
It seems to me that the ability to
transfer data is a monumental improvement in information sharing. For other
communication the expression of emotions is less than perfect and may even be
so misunderstood as to compound any problems that existed before. It is my
opinion that we have sacrificed meaning for expedience and convenience. This also insulates us from conflict, which then
magnifies the conflicts that do occur in life and our ability to maturely deal
with them.
We will need Tech to solve many of
our problems, but let’s tell those who design it to keep our interpersonal
needs in mind. I plan on using the phone or personal meetings in the future, so
as to keep my ability to deal with conflict, if it occurs. I might even go Old School and write letters just to lend my small voice to our way of doing things in the future.
The problems created by social media and the general trend towards texting will require many of us to engage in Emolvement. Intentional meditation will help to lessen the severity of conflict as well as the loss of intimacy that results. We can minimize our frustration (a subtle way of saying anger). We live in a world of facts. Facts are often updated, as more is learned. Like the scientific method which uses a hypothesis as fact until a better one comes along. Sadly, the evolution of information is inconsistent and some point to this as a reason to ignore them. These people then become drawn to information sources and even baseless conspiracy theories to make sense of the world and reaffirm their beliefs, without any regard to their accuracy. We are dealing with facts with our emotions. This isn't a behavior, indicative of survival for a species. If I were a bird that couldn't distinguish between a piece of bark and a seed, I would not be long for this world.
Others like to think that their common sense will guide them. Again, this falls short. Einstein remarked that common sense was only a collection of prejudices learned before adulthood. If this observation is true, common sense should be abandoned if one truly wants to grow to a higher level of consciousness. Prejudice must be eliminated since they can't co-exist. The current situation will require us to grow and adapt. Emolvement can provide us with the tools to adapt to the loss of intimacy, increased frustration and restore our confidence through Intentional meditation as long as we are willing to do the work.
