Social Media is Not A Sickness

I just read a fairly straightforward criticism of social media as a cause of social disconnect and dehumanization. It is, of course, predictable and typical Luddite-ism. There is a sickness, but it's in humans. Technology is simply one of many things in our environment with which we react.

The crux of the article was focused on anecdotes: The relative who takes too many pictures at a family gathering, the refusal to enjoy a vacation because of guarding technology, the inability to sit and enjoy life. I posted a comment, but realized it'd make a decent blog post. You may want to read the other article, first. Here's that link, again.

Here it is:

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Like any other new technology, it takes time for people, as a people, to adapt and come up with norms of behavior. Yes, it’s absolutely true that with the pace of change in technology, it’s dizzying to keep up. That does not, however, permit us to take a Luddite approach and put blame on the technology. Technology is. It’s not sentient. If we’re looking for a finger to point, it’s at us for not better educating ourselves at a young age to adapt to new technology in ways that increase and augment our humanity, rather than reducing it. This is essentially the problem you point out – that our use of technology can sometimes be dehumanizing. And I agree.

Let me start with this quote:
“You can confiscate all the cellphones in the world, but if kids already have their minds set this way, they will find another way to express it.”

Kids will actually find the most human ways to experience it, I believe. With a smaller prior schema, they aren’t trying to fit technology into their existing way of life, instead they’re finding better ways to use it. I agree that the 400+ photos example is a good one of someone who maybe … should … step back a bit from the technology. But I wonder if kids growing up won’t be more selective, because they’re not so *wow’d* with ubiquitous, high quality digital cameras. But also, to play Devil’s Advocate – maybe this relative feels an obligation to photograph, so that others can enjoy? That’s not so dissimilar from the person-who-is-always-in-the-kitchen-instead-of-eating-with-the-family, is it?

“‘This IS in.’ Motioning to the backpack.”

Oh, the cell phone. Speaking of “having something at-hand”, there’s the biggest example. So small and portable, yet powerful. But the device doesn’t ask you to keep it on all the time – it can easily be shut off during dinner with a friend, a movie, or for an hour in the afternoon when one needs to get meditate / take a jog / read a book. Does having it off for a little while sacrifice its overall usefulness? Doubtful. So what is it about the phone that makes people feel that it needs to be there all-the-time?

I think the answer is the feeling that, well, technology *does* make our lives better. So we want as much as possible and we overcompensate. That smart-phone of mine, which is super valuable in helping me find directions and not get lost, to let me touch base with someone who is running late to meet me, to find out whether I need to lug my umbrella or just to be there for a friend who needs a comforting ear *now* —- so powerful. The key is that I think the overcompensating is a basic human logic flaw. If something’s good to have, it’s good to have *a lot* or even *all the time*. This applies to everything – the difference between having a beer to unwind, and being an alcoholic, between enjoying sex with a partner, to seeking it out all the time and not being happy alone, between enjoying fine cuisine and overeating, etc. etc.

In other words, it’s not a problem with technology at all; it’s an innate issue with our selves. The sickness is not social media. The sickness is our inability to realize that we need downtime in order to be fully productive the rest of the time. We Americans especially – we take less vacation than other industrialized nations, we work longer hours, we make our kids do a thousand activities in the name of enrichment, and try and fill our day with busyness. Getting to the root of this is a more philosophical one, or maybe partly psychological. Or maybe it’s just economic – America was #1, and we’re slipping slowly as countries like China and India advance. To compensate, we’re working harder for the same standard of living. It’s stressful. We want to keep busy. Technology helps us keep busy. But even taking away the technology won’t help the sickness – we’ll just find other outlets.

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