Like, Share, Social Love.

It’s a well established fact, that the paradox of our generational contribution is definitively two fold. The relentless progression of technology has simultaneously intensified and contributed to the ever-increasing richness and complexity of our cultural environment. As we apprehensively venture from one wifi connection to the next, our dependency on social media has become an all consuming virtual vexation, which has sank its teeth into our physical lives. For some of us, it seems like only yesterday sharing a bebo love was the pinnacle of our networking repetoire, yet the giddy excitement and distraction generated by an increasing number of gorgeous gadgets and mesmerizing social media, has expanded with each passing year.

On a fundamental level, social media feels great. The shares. The likes. The comments. They’re fun and they can make us feel fabulous and in sync with the world. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have ingrained themselves in society so integrally, that they have began to shape our personal and professional relationships. As we continue to feed our social media addiction; seeking and demanding more from our online interactions, our social media accounts have truly become an extension of ourselves. Nevertheless, our reliance on these tools clearly have lasting repercussions for our personal relations and society at large.

Individually we personify a combination of genetic, inherited, and learned behaviour. These qualities can be extremely fallible and subject to the pulls and pushes of external influence especially where youth and impressionable characters are concerned. Fundamentally, the popularity of social media epitomises a butterfly catching crusade, which aspires to  create, maintain and promote social acceptance amongst peers and key networking individuals. Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world often lacks (or offers in short supply)!, Namely it instills immediacy, connectedness, and a unique sense of belonging, which we all crave on multiple levels of cognition.

Sadly, the alarming progression of social media has gathered momentum faster than humanity has been able to accrue wisdom. The peculiar predicament of the present-day surely came to pass as a consequence of an extremely questionable morality, which has existed since the beginning of time. The day we went to dig out a smart phone before we thought to outstretch a hand, was the day we sealed the fate of technology as the demonised poster child who initiated and ignited society’s ills. However, to loosely butcher an observation of Oscar Wilde: ‘Give a man a mask and he will show you his true self’. A startling surveillance made long before social media was even a twinkle in the cyber sky. Trolling, spamming and down right despicable behaviour is never more than a newsfeed away. Yik yak, for example; (the anonymous social media app) recently gained notoriety as an online bullying forum, verifying Wilde’s assertion regarding the futile faculty of man. The proposition of this blog therefore lies not in the castigation of social media but in the ousting of the most villainous of victims. Ourselves. 
 

Social media is not a separate entity from me and you. Online interactions personify the relationship that we create and maintain with the world and each other...online and off. Realistically you and I are the problem because we serve as the manifestations and reflections of the goodness and cruelty of man. Consequently, the catalyst will always react according to the components which creators use to distill their communicative concoction. Choices, even small ones, have the potential to change people’s lives. Every time you like/share/post something online; you make a decision. You can either choose to make a positive contribution to local, national and international happiness or you can create something that takes away from it. 

Social media itself was not designed to deal with passive aggression and discontent, nor was it intended to be exploited by abdominal advertisers and cyber conspirators, who have profited from an opportunity to cash in on our trivial and tumultuous fortitude. Perhaps as Aldous Huxley lamented, technology has merely facilitated a more efficient means of going backwards. Nevertheless, it’s here to stay and it’s procreation is only going to continue to strengthen and solidify our respective cultures. 

Information is not knowledge, and knowledge almost certainly is not wisdom. In the rather deplorable history of man, we have relentlessly refined an ability to take something rather clever and magnificient and find a way to abuse it repeatedly and in varying degrees. This includes all the wonderful discoveries and inventions which have preceded the proliferation of social media. The only thing which differentiates this phenomenon from all our other terrible mistakes, is that it has come to characterise an unavoidable component of life, in both personal and professional realms. Although I largely advocate social media, I am truly thankful to say I experience childhood and several awkward teenage years before social media was ever able to heighten insecurity or influence an extremely impressionable phase. In the face of a rapidly-changing technologically enhanced culture, we need to learn how to deal with the stress and burdens that social media can generate. Arguably we need to develop proactive strategies which navigate and circumvent the shadowy side of the social media circus in an effort to protect ourselves and others.

Alternatively, the potential surrounding social media to act as a positive social tool is infinite. You could fill a black hole with all the wonderful things you can find on-line. Beyond the one dimentional promotion of self interests, commerce and general cynical ignorance, social media can help us grow by purposefully contributing to our personal connections and our academic and emotional learning. Beyond the doom and gloom, tutts and the but's of heated debate; the collective big mouth of social media has arguably put the collective ‘big man’ in his place. Many small businesses have prospered from social media engagement which serves as the materialisation of an effective and inexpensive way to grow their business. Online word of mouth (or eWOW) is affecting purchasing power to the extent that social media has vapourised traditional business and communication models. This has resulted in the very visible rise of the blogger phenomenon amongst other things in the search of an interactive authenticity.

What has become increasingly evident is the trial by error manner in which we continue to seek and find a footing in the social media sphere. Our individual self and social acceptance can only be steadied when we present our true, imperfect selves to the world. Spend your day online and off, being unapologetically you. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and they’re also entitled to express them online. However, never listen to the malicious comments of those who, never taking any risks themselves, choose to cast a shadow over your differences and decisions. You are not responsible for anyone else’s actions or karma, but you are responsible for your own happiness and success. Always remember to fearlessly approach life with a grace and integrity that elevates you beyond your online accounts and activities. Real life is what happens offline. Be passionately present and remember the happiest person in the room is not on their phone.

En route to Amsterdam With Love.