A bit tangential about social media
As a CS student pursuing a career in ‘tech’, I often feel there is optimism in the power of technology in making our lives easier and efficient. They are supposed to optimize our lives in whatever pursuit, need, or desire that we have. However, I feel they often can have the opposite effect.
For example, the ‘mantra’ of Facebook is that it’s there to help ‘connect’ people. And in a certain respect, it has helped in respect. It’s connected me with friends and family. It’s allowed me to share in their stories and experiences. It’s the primary way by which I message them and get updates.
However, I also find that when getting ‘connected’, I don’t really feel that I get any substantial interactions. I can look back at all the time that I’ve spent on Facebook, and I can say that most of it weren’t very meaningful. I mean, it’s nice to see how people are doing in their lives, but that experience is more like watching life from outside a window. Sure the view can be nice, interesting, boring, etc., but it leaves me feeling incomplete. It’s similar to the experience of eating junk food — sure, it fills one stomach. Still, in the end, it’s cheap and doesn’t provide nutritional value.
Also, you can get lost in the endless scrolling. And that experience itself is a bit odd because sometimes you do catch fun or entertaining content, but those are fleeting. It is similar to playing a slot machine where most of the time, you end up with a dud result, but once in a while, you win. However, that winning feeling is fleeting, and you end up going back into slotting your time away.
It’s strange because, in this sense, the role of technology has an inverse effect. The humanist conception of technology is that it is something that we control and is there to enhance our will. However, in this case, technology controls us, diminishing our will by hijacking our desire for social connection and filling it with a chimera.
This is only one example of the messed consequence that technology can have. Now, of course, what can we do to counter this? That’s a big BIG question, but…
I know, at least with me, I know that I would benefit from some breathing room. Perhaps a digital for a few days or a week?
