Bet you didn't expect that one from me, did ya? Many people know me as "that guy" who is really good at running social sites for organizations, but honestly, I hate what social media has become, and here's why:
1. Social life, not social media
I think social media can be good, and for some it really is, but it all depends on how we use it. Once upon a time, probably back in the mid-2000s, one of my friends had a Xanga account. For those of you who don't know what it is (and honestly, I barely know too), Xanga was the predecessor to MySpace, so it's pretty old school now. Well long story short, my friend was addicted to it. So much so, that she was spending every ounce of free time that she had on Xanga.
Did she have friends in real life, absolutely, but she didn't spend any time pouring into those friendships because she was too busy building her online friendships.
I don't know what made her do it, but one day, she decided to delete her account and vowed to never go on social media again because she was afraid she'd get addicted again, and for the most part, she's held to it.
Today, the three accounts she owns are Twitter (for teaching), Snapchat and her Pinterest account. She doesn't need them though, and that's the attitude she has about them. She is one of the most social people I know and it's not because she doesn't have social media, it's because once upon a time she realized how addicting it could be and said no to social media and yes to a social life.
2. Sometimes, there's nothing SOCIAL about it
The one thing I think social media is good for is connecting people. Sometimes that looks like a business getting to connect with its customers and other times it looks like two people connecting after meeting at a conference; but what social media isn't good for is our self-esteem. We are hearing a lot about it right now, how social media is causing so much hate in the lives of teenagers.
Facebook's tagline says "Wherever you go, whatever you do, stay close to the people who matter" and I think the intent they were going for in creating that line was to foster a culture online that enabled people to share their lives with their closest friends regardless of the distance.
What it has become, though, is a place for people to hide. A place for bullies to work behind a screen. A place for people to pretend to be who they are not because every body else seems to have their life together too, or at least that's what it looks like online.
See, I don't think social media should be for us to connect with our friends we see all the time. We should be connecting with them in person and sharing photos from our phone rather than hoping they see them online. We should be sitting down and chatting about how life is going rather than updating our status or sending out misunderstood tweets.
One of my best friends was walking this line for a while. His way of communicating with some of the friends he has was through Snapchat. He found himself talking with friends more through social media then he did in person and one day, he just wasn't okay with that anymore so he deleted the app from his phone.
I'm not saying everybody should go and delete their accounts, because there is some value to having social media; but what I am saying is that we need to be mindful of how we use it. A friend of mine, Andrew Sladky, made this video to bring attention to how we interact with social networking as college students but regardless of what age/stage in life you are in, this applies to you.
Give it a watch:
