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If you don't have a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, etc. while literally everyone else around you does, would you say that would interfere with your social life?
In terms of social life not in the least. However in terms of connecting with ,nationally and internationally, family and art friends and learning new things/ideas re history/cultures/travel/ recipes I love it.
Having my 6 year old grandson Skype is an absolute joy, seeing my long distance art friends share their latest work is wonderful and inspiring. Social media can be a time suck but I remember days with no internet and people back in the day found plenty others way to time suck , if not spending every night in the pub , then plonked in front of telly like zombies just as a quick example.
As mordant says
“So I'd say social media isn't nearly as crucial as it thinks it is. It is more an addiction really, all those little dopamine hits from getting "likes", the constant engagement -- but these things detract / distract from self-awareness and empathy IMO. It also produces bad behavior because people who wouldn't dare be cruel, rude, insulting or hurtful to your face feel perfectly free to be themselves on social media. And some social media lacks in moderation, which amplifies that particular problem.”
If you don't have a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, etc. while literally everyone else around you does, would you say that would interfere with your social life?
If you are over 25, no. Probably not under that age either, but my kids connect a lot through Snapchat, etc.
My 32-year-old daughter says that FB is for old people. LOL
I mostly post photos on FB because I like to share my photos and I like when people enjoy them. I don't post my daily activities (OK, other than Wordle) and I sure as all hell don't post anything political. Or respond to other people's political statements
Other than that, I post on a few 9/11 related sites, a support group for survivors (more so as the anniversary approaches each year) and a page about the new and old WTC site. On a positive note, it was through a FB advocacy site that Canada opened exemptions to those of us in cross-border relationships during the COVID border closure so we could reunite. There was power in numbers there.
But my social life? That has little to do with social media. I call or text my friends and say, "Hey, let's get together" and we catch up on our lives in person.
If you don't have a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, etc. while literally everyone else around you does, would you say that would interfere with your social life?
Yes, not having Facebook does interfere with our social life, but not enough that I think the benefits of having that or any of the social media listed above would be worth the cost.
In July 2020, we retired to a VERY rural tourist-oriented community of about 350 year-round residents. On our road with 15 homes, only five of them are occupied year-round. When we moved here just before the full force of COVID hit, people were very friendly to us, but that changed about January 2021 after they learned we were unvaxxed and would remain so. The reason this is relevant to this thread is because when we moved in, our neighbors were surprised that we weren't members of Facebook and indicated that this was how everyone on our road kept in touch with each other during the cold off-season months. I can only imagine how much disgust/anger I would have seen directed at us and others who remained unvaxxed if we had succumbed to the subtle pressure to join Facebook when we moved here. However, as we were able to remain ignorant about what our neighbors might have been said about us for remaining unvaxxed and now that the "vax divide" is mainly over, we have been able to gradually start to resume good relations with each other starting this past summer. I don't know if this would have happened if we had become members of Facebook when it was suggested that we do so.
Last edited by katharsis; 01-15-2024 at 01:55 PM..
Yes, to the extent that I find out about a lot of events happening where I'm at (whether at home or on travel) that I then use to help get people together. Heck, it even allows me to catch up with friends and relatives overseas who otherwise would not be easily reachable. To be clear, I don't rely exclusively (or even mostly) on social media to enhance my social life. And most of the time friends/family and I do coordination by text message for simple night outs, whether to eat or just hanging out at home or out on the town, so it's not like not having social media would kill my social life or anything close to that. But social media has been a net positive in my life from that perspective.
In our semi rural area, I don't know now people even know what's going on in town without social media.
Our town is too small for local TV news, the local newspaper stopped being useful years ago. No local news radio.
We get our news from local community facebook groups and the scanner/weather groups. What's happening, who is having meetings or gatherings, what was that noise, why is the power out, is there a wreck or a fire or police activity happening that we need to know about? It's in the local group.
I'd say it depends on your age. If you're young, almost certainly, since "everyone" does it. However, I'm finding that a lot of my contemporaries (women in their 60s, 70s, and even beyond) are really addicted to their phones and constantly talking and texting on them and especially compulsively pointing them at everything and everyone to post on social media, which really surprises -- and also annoys -- me. Some have actually gotten testy with me because I: a) don't own/use one (thus am not always immediately responsive 24/7) and b) don't want 1,000 photos of me taken and tagged everywhere I go documenting everything I do, which I guess makes me "no fun." One person totally went off on me, saying I "must not want friends" because I'm not glued to my phone like they are.
No. And I have lived in areas so remote getting together in person is logistically difficult and expensive. Using SM would seem like an advantage, but because they were so remote there wasn't much access to SM either which sort of reinforced not using it.
The relationships I care anything about these days didn't develop through or depend on SM. Part of that is due to their ages; of both the people involved and the relationships...they all pre-date SM. All of us might use SM to varying degrees but it isn't the vehicle by which our relationships are maintained.
One sibling seems to spend an awful lot of time looking at SM. Hour after hour gets sucked away. It was incredibly boring to spend time around her. If she won't shut her phone down and get off her duff, I've learned to leave her to it and go do something else. I have a couple of long term international e-pen pals met online, but once again, we don't keep in touch via SM. Either personal directed emailing or phone calls. Just like any other communication device, SM has its good and bad sides. I consider it just another tool in the communication tool box. Up to the user to decide how best to accomplish the job at hand.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-15-2024 at 04:02 PM..
I've found that my relatives post exaggerated cheerful posts or brag about their travel when their lives aren't working out. The worse their lives, the more bragging is displayed. Another relative's posts are all about her anger against men/life. Either way, it sucks the air out of the room. Why bother?
^^^ yes, people do try to present some idyllic perfect life they don't actually have ... in fact they are frantic to do so, it is the modern version of old-fashioned "keeping up with the Joneses". The humble-bragging can be downright epic, too.
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