Social media has supposedly made it easier than ever to connect with each other, with it now being possible to receive instantaneous replies from whoever you want to talk to, whether they live down the road or on a different continent. There is no doubt that this has revolutionised our ability to organise plans and keep in contact with each other, but does the distraction of social media take value from in-person connections?
If I think of times where I felt most connected to my friends, chats in a festival campsite with no phone service come to mind.
Though technology facilitates the organisation of our social lives, it also invades these in-person interactions and makes us less available to each other in person. The ding of a social media notification immediately takes people’s attention away from the actual real-life conversations happening around them, so that people end up distracted on their phones when they could be engaging in a conversation with friends. If I think of times where I felt most connected to my friends, chats in a festival campsite with no phone service come to mind. With the constant distraction of the online world taken away, everyone can be completely present and engaged with each other, allowing conversations to become less surface-level and human connections to properly flourish.
Social media has made the world more connected than ever, and yet in any social situation we have never been more disconnected from each other. Look at any waiting room, bus stop or queue at a coffee shop and you will see people stood right next to each other but absorbed in their own digital world. At a concert or event, rather than being engrossed in the live music and dancing with friends, people will be watching the show through their phone screen, trying not to dance too much so they have a good video to post on their Instagram story.
How much more fulfilling would our conversations be if they were no longer interrupted by our phone screen lighting up with a new notification?
What would our lives be like if we stopped using social media to pass the time while we wait for something in public? How many more spontaneous conversations with strangers would we have if we weren’t always glued to our screens? How much more fulfilling would our conversations be if they were no longer interrupted by our phone screen lighting up with a new notification? How much more enjoyment would we receive from our lives if we stopped trying to capture every moment for Instagram? You’ll only find out if you try…