Together and Alone: the Dilemma of Social Media
Man is a social animal. He is designed and born to form groups, make friends and interact with others.
Together and Alone: the Dilemma of Social Media
By
Sana Hassan
Man is a social animal. He is designed and born to form groups, make friends and interact with others. Isolation can be killing. The interactions have a variety of reasons, be it a business deal, buying fruits, shopping, doing a group project or making friends. It is necessary and inevitable.
The technology has allowed us to connect with each other on the whole different level. At the same time, it has isolated us for the real world. Everyone is running to achieve the illusion of perfection. Thus, we are connected and lonely at the same time.
How does it work?
Social websites allow you to interact with people virtually. The actual conversations are replaced by electronic chats. People spend hours of energy in putting up a profile that is pleasing to the world. Only good and impressive stuff is uploaded as if bad and negative doesn’t exist. The illusion of similar likes and interests gets the best of us. Quantity over quality is preferred. We make 200 friends on Facebook, but in reality, we are lonely and no one knows or understands us.
The control
Social media gives us control over how we present ourselves. The messages, emails, posts, photos allow us this control. People spend hours to click and choose nice pictures on social media. This let us get caught in the chain reaction of self-praise. With every post and every new photo uploaded the roots get stronger and stronger until we are stuck in a never-ending cycle of pleasing and getting praises.
Only Posts mean Life’s good
This control also gives us the illusion that we are productive and doing a lot in our lives. People posting the pictures of their hangouts with hashtag #livetoyourfullest give us the false sense of not living our lives. Thus, we try to post more of our life activities online. The food isn’t enjoyed if the picture isn’t uploaded for everyone else to see. The road trip isn’t a road trip if the world doesn’t know you are having fun.
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In Reality
On contrary, in real life, we are not in complete control. We cannot mold the abruptness and spontaneity of our lives as we please. Following the daily routine and keeping up with the assignments is living as well. Enjoying a trip with no picture posted is still an epic trip. The real life gives us the edge of forming true and real relationships where negatives are very real and acceptable. It helps us form the real and close connects that will stay in the hour of need. This is exactly what we need as social animals we are.