Were we happier before social media?
Social media seems to have taken over our lives. I am a big consumer of it myself. Is it contributing to us being happier or unhappier as a species though?
My involvement in social media began as a teenager. You weren't 'cool' unless you had a Bebo account. Then, along came MySpace. With both social sites you could post pictures and personalise your home page to 'express the real you'. It was the age of the emo selfie (that scene kid look with the big fringes covering your eyes) and a time when pop punk like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance were ruling the music scene.
Along came the new kid on the block, Facebook. This was the one all the university students were signing up to and was a way of creating connections that would stay with you after you graduated and you could form business connections with. Although, that was the intention the reality was that it was a way of wasting half your life on simple games (Farmville), insulting strangers and sharing inane or racist images or texts. I joined in 2007 but the site was founded in 2003 by a young man called Mark Zuckerberg.
Twitter was the other massive social networking site to emerge. The beauty of it was that you could write posts that were no longer than 140 characters. This has turned out to be a blessing and a curse. Although it has made it quick and easy to express yourself the reality is that it also means you can be misunderstood. As you try to cut down what you are saying it is easy for your meaning to be lost and for text to be taken out of context. This has meant that people are starting fights and trolling each other. It is sad and pathetic really but that is the world we seem to live in. On Twitter you can be anyone and be anonymous and this has led people to be viscous and unkind for no reason.
As I say, I am a huge consumer of social media and I have had both positive and negative experiences with it. The three sites I use the most are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Below are my positives and negatives of each:
Facebook positives - I have been able to keep in contact with friends I would have lost otherwise if there were no other easy methods of communication. I can express my thoughts and feelings about diverse subjects. The free chat feature means I can have long conversations with people who I am friends with all around the world. I have been able to set up an account in support of my friend's band and promote his work to like minded people.
Facebook negatives - there are too many people on there that do not understand that when they share 'Britain First' posts they are contributing the Daily Mail scaremongering racism that pervades this country. I have had arguments with people that I thought were sensible human beings and I have had to block them as a result which has been tricky when it comes to actually seeing them in real life. There is a sense of jealousy when people do things I want to do and vice versa and this has contributed to my deep sense of self-loathing and depression/anxiety.
Twitter positives - I have been able to connect with like minded people all around the world. I have made new friends that I wouldn't have known existed. I have made friends with people in bands and been exposed to a new culture of music (the underground UK scene). It has allowed me to discover a world of manga and anime through recommendations of people far away.
Twitter negatives - people have taken my tweets out of context and cyber-bullied me. There has been jealousy when I have posted something simple with a picture about what I have been doing or who I have been meeting. It can cause jealousy when that famous person tweets someone I know and not me. These are pathetic things but it seems to be this way on twitter.
Instagram positives - has allowed me to discover the joys of cosplay. Made me think more about how to take a good photo. Shown me some interesting things about my friend's lives that I never knew.
Instagram negatives - again I have suffered cyber-bullying as people try and put me down about my cosplay. People have sent me abuse about the bands I like and the actors I like. There seems to be a competition for 'likes' and numbers of follows.
I can't remember what life was really like before social networking but I am sure there was less competition and it made me happier. It is clear that being able to contact anyone at any time is a good thing and it allows me to stay in touch with people all over the world, but sometimes it would be nice to disconnect a bit. I think that when we have access to people all the time it stops us from seeing how special the moments are when you meet up with someone you haven't seen/spoken to in a while. We lose that sense of wonder about the world when everything is available to us all the time.
I will continue to use these sites though. They may have become an addiction over the years. I don't know that they are a bad thing or a good thing. They are an example of the world we live in and our need to be connected all the time. Long term, I do not know what they will do for us and if they will survive. MySpace only exists as a music service now (but that is because the evil News Corp took it on in 2005 and couldn't keep up with Facebook) and Bebo has disappeared into the distant memory. What the next craze will be I do not know. It might be that we as a special reject this way of life in the future. Can anything really last forever?
My involvement in social media began as a teenager. You weren't 'cool' unless you had a Bebo account. Then, along came MySpace. With both social sites you could post pictures and personalise your home page to 'express the real you'. It was the age of the emo selfie (that scene kid look with the big fringes covering your eyes) and a time when pop punk like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance were ruling the music scene.
Along came the new kid on the block, Facebook. This was the one all the university students were signing up to and was a way of creating connections that would stay with you after you graduated and you could form business connections with. Although, that was the intention the reality was that it was a way of wasting half your life on simple games (Farmville), insulting strangers and sharing inane or racist images or texts. I joined in 2007 but the site was founded in 2003 by a young man called Mark Zuckerberg.
Twitter was the other massive social networking site to emerge. The beauty of it was that you could write posts that were no longer than 140 characters. This has turned out to be a blessing and a curse. Although it has made it quick and easy to express yourself the reality is that it also means you can be misunderstood. As you try to cut down what you are saying it is easy for your meaning to be lost and for text to be taken out of context. This has meant that people are starting fights and trolling each other. It is sad and pathetic really but that is the world we seem to live in. On Twitter you can be anyone and be anonymous and this has led people to be viscous and unkind for no reason.
As I say, I am a huge consumer of social media and I have had both positive and negative experiences with it. The three sites I use the most are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Below are my positives and negatives of each:
Facebook positives - I have been able to keep in contact with friends I would have lost otherwise if there were no other easy methods of communication. I can express my thoughts and feelings about diverse subjects. The free chat feature means I can have long conversations with people who I am friends with all around the world. I have been able to set up an account in support of my friend's band and promote his work to like minded people.
Facebook negatives - there are too many people on there that do not understand that when they share 'Britain First' posts they are contributing the Daily Mail scaremongering racism that pervades this country. I have had arguments with people that I thought were sensible human beings and I have had to block them as a result which has been tricky when it comes to actually seeing them in real life. There is a sense of jealousy when people do things I want to do and vice versa and this has contributed to my deep sense of self-loathing and depression/anxiety.
Twitter positives - I have been able to connect with like minded people all around the world. I have made new friends that I wouldn't have known existed. I have made friends with people in bands and been exposed to a new culture of music (the underground UK scene). It has allowed me to discover a world of manga and anime through recommendations of people far away.
Twitter negatives - people have taken my tweets out of context and cyber-bullied me. There has been jealousy when I have posted something simple with a picture about what I have been doing or who I have been meeting. It can cause jealousy when that famous person tweets someone I know and not me. These are pathetic things but it seems to be this way on twitter.
Instagram positives - has allowed me to discover the joys of cosplay. Made me think more about how to take a good photo. Shown me some interesting things about my friend's lives that I never knew.
Instagram negatives - again I have suffered cyber-bullying as people try and put me down about my cosplay. People have sent me abuse about the bands I like and the actors I like. There seems to be a competition for 'likes' and numbers of follows.
I can't remember what life was really like before social networking but I am sure there was less competition and it made me happier. It is clear that being able to contact anyone at any time is a good thing and it allows me to stay in touch with people all over the world, but sometimes it would be nice to disconnect a bit. I think that when we have access to people all the time it stops us from seeing how special the moments are when you meet up with someone you haven't seen/spoken to in a while. We lose that sense of wonder about the world when everything is available to us all the time.
I will continue to use these sites though. They may have become an addiction over the years. I don't know that they are a bad thing or a good thing. They are an example of the world we live in and our need to be connected all the time. Long term, I do not know what they will do for us and if they will survive. MySpace only exists as a music service now (but that is because the evil News Corp took it on in 2005 and couldn't keep up with Facebook) and Bebo has disappeared into the distant memory. What the next craze will be I do not know. It might be that we as a special reject this way of life in the future. Can anything really last forever?
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