The Downward Spiral Of Social Interaction
Everyone can see it, but not everyone can really see it. Society today has been lacking in social interaction, and by that I do not mean on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media app. I mean actual face-to-face human connection has diminished between people today. It’s a problem that is noticeable in almost every aspect of society today.
It seems that today, everyone has their eyes glued to one thing, the app being used on their phone. Whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or some other form of “social media”, many individuals are more focused on what is displayed on that little screen than what is happening right in front of them. It starts to become a habit, the constant looking down and checking on the latest updates on the web. It happens so much now that face-to-face interaction has become secondary to the public.
The real problem I have with this is when it interrupts real, human interaction between people. As much as this is already said, it is nice to have a night away from technology and focus on the real world once in a while. One of the biggest problems I have with some people now is the lack of focus. When you are spending time with your friends, the last thing on your mind should be “what are other people doing?” However, we check our phones for twitter updates or see how many likes our picture got on Instagram. Human interaction has decreased so much that talking amongst each other has become boring.
Why do we feel the need to update people on who were with? Or what we’re doing? Why is it that we feel the need to see what is happening in others’ lives every second of the day? The answer is we don’t know, but we still continue to do these things every day. Even I am guilty of over-using social media, because it has become a reflex. Human interaction and conversation has begun to dwindle as a result of this.
My advice, spend less time on your phone and more of it with people in a real life scenario (coffee, drinks, dinner etc.). Instead of worrying about what other people are doing, focus on yourself. Although it certainly seems impossible to rid oneself of “technology immersion”, using it less often would be a good start.