n. a feature of modern society that suddenly strikes you as absurd and grotesque—from zoos and milk-drinking to organ transplants, life insurance, and fiction—part of the faint background noise of absurdity that reverberates from the moment our ancestors first crawled out of the slime but could not for the life of them remember what they got up to do.
Tapping into the very primal needs of human beings for social interactions, social media are now becoming an integral culture of our modern everyday life, marking a revolutionary change and setting a new milestone in the history of human beings.
Human interconnectedness is redefined as social media enabled human connection and communication transcend beyond the limitation of international borders and physical distance. A "connection" can be formed anytime and anywhere by any social media user with simply just a few clicks on any social network sites (SNS). Trends, news, and information now disseminate across the global scene, faster and easier than ever virtually.
According to The Telegraph, the average person owns up to 5 social media accounts and spends an estimated 1 hour and 40 minutes daily on social media usage. In other words, one shall spend roughly 5 years of their lives on social media. The figure seems unbelievable, doesn't it? Nevertheless, social media users and the time spent on social media usage are unshockingly expected to increase in the coming years.
Sources of Data:
Reflect upon yourself: When was the last time when you went to bed without watching some YouTube videos? When was the last time you woke up to NOT checking WhatsApp messages or catching up with the latest Facebook status updates or Twitter trending hashtags?
"I can't remember."
Doesn't it feel strange to realize that before the age of social media, our lives were once seemingly simpler but richer in a way? Not overly fixated with constantly keeping ourselves updated with the most recent happenings around us, we were able to enjoy more of the little simple things in real life better.
Social media connects people together virtually but ironically also distances people from one another. As people are increasingly caught up in their very little own media social spaces these days, interactions are reduced from meaningful conversations to a simple short exchange of few words among people.
The essence of an interaction is arguably to have changed along with the boom of social media. We no longer engage ourselves in meaningful conversations as we're too concerned about being available and staying connected on social media day and night, rather than actually connecting with real people and real world.
The nowness in our lives has been robbed. To savour and live in the present moment became a sacred rarity and luxury for most.
Take a deep breath and think about these questions:
When was the last time when you were aware of it felt like to have a breeze blowing against your cheeks? How does it feel to walk barefooted around your house? Are the tiles feeling cold or rough against your soles? Did you notice the new pair of earrings your friend was wearing?
The modern invention of social media allowed us to expand our horizons easily but ironically also desensitized our observations and senses. We could care less about the surroundings but couldn't care less about our online personas.
Revisiting some moments I had before I became an active social media user, I came to realize how much social media has changed our ways of lives and society.
New term such as FOMO was coined and existing English terms such as influencer and traffic were given a new definition following the growth of social media. Human beings who are inherently social are too, becoming anti-social. Brooding societal problems such as addictions, unhealthy obsession with unrealistic/distorted beauty standards, irregular sleeping patterns and mental health issues, are on the rise as social media continuously grows bigger and more influential around the world.
Social media, a feature of the modern society that most couldn't, or claim not to be able to live without could turn out to be relatively appalling once you begin to unskin its glamorous semblance and probe its underbelly.
Thinking along these lines, don't you think you should go on a social media detox?
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