23 Aug Social Media – Pros and Cons

Hello friends and Happy Friday!

Hallelujah! We are going to have some temps in the 70s this weekend. It won’t last long, but I’ll take it! Today, I am discussing social media.

I do have strong opinions about social media and most of it stems from the fact that I think it can make you “less social” if you let it.

Personal

First, I want to say thank you to the ladies that have emailed me this week. I appreciate hearing from my readers and am so glad you are enjoying the blog! It means a lot to me to hear from you.

There are some pros and cons to social media, in my opinion, and I thought I would talk about them here. If you do use social media, I would like to hear how you create a balance with it?

I’m at the doctor today as I have been having a tough time with coming off medication. I seem to get everything under the sun in terms of side effects and more, then I question getting off the med. I also may have a UTI..and am dealing with menopause symptoms. Geez, when someone says you are hot these days, it takes on a different meaning!

Pros

Staying connected. I do use and like Facebook and find that many people do stay connected with nieces, kids, nephews, grandparents via social media. Facebook supposedly isn’t as “cool” these days for younger people once their parents got onto this medium, but that doesn’t factor in for me. I have connected with people I haven’t connected with for years, and see what they are doing.

Social groups– I do belong to an Ehlers- Danlos group of people that are over 40. When I used to belong to various chat groups or websites that used to be helpful to people with chronic pain conditions, these Facebook groups can help locate other people with similar or the same conditions, and you find others that may be having similar difficulties. It is important and a bit of solace to find others with a similar circumstance. I also belong to the Forever Fierce Group, a group of midlife ladies who are supportive and encourage others in their endeavors.

Promoting your business or blog- I prefer Pinterest and Facebook as far as promoting my blog. I joined a wonderful group- Midlife Bloggers, who are ladies with blogs over 40. We read each other’s blog posts and help to support one another. I also use Facebook to promote current blog posts, as well as other modes of social media.

Crowdsourcing  Recently, I watched the show, Diagnosis, on Netflix and found it fascinating. A Yale Doctor, Dr. Lisa Sanders, wrote for the New York Times, articles on people without a diagnosis. She thought it would be an interesting project or experiment to get more information, meet the people, then write an article about them in the newspaper. As a result, she asked for “crowdsourcing” through social media to offer a diagnosis after hearing the person’s story and video. This resulted in people from all over the world, including specialists such as Neurologists, Geneticists, PhD, etc, offering their opinions. In many of the cases presented, a diagnosis was uncovered, after Dr Lisa chose the most popular responses on social media regarding the person’s diagnosis.

More Exposure for Animals. It used to be you put up a flyer on a telephone pole if your dog was missing. Through social media, you can get the word out to millions of people, and people in your area, making it more widespread and a greater chance of locating an animal.

Ideas- Pinterest is my preferred form of social media. I like to create lists, so this is something where I can use ideas for home decorating, fashion, etc. These ideas are located in one place and easy to access.

Cons

Addiction – Many people have becoming addicted to using social media and their phones, rendering them “less social” to those around them. I can’t stand to see people at a dinner table or out in public sitting around a table, not talking but all using their phones!  I have also heard the latest news story where a school in the US has banned phones, complete with cases that can’t open, and must be kept in their lockers. I used to teach and am thankful that cell phones were not in the schools at the time I taught. I think it would be very difficult for teachers in this day and age!

Distraction- Listening skills have probably gone down the tubes, as people are distracted by the use of social media. Focusing on the person you are with and truly listening can be inhibited if you are distracted by social media and the phone. My mom would attest to people not looking up from their phones in public, crossing streets, in large groups. Now, that’s a danger!

Comparison– I find this mostly with Instagram. People see the “beautiful pictures” and often think of how lucky others are, or how beautiful, how thin, what a lifestyle, etc. Photographs are often photoshopped, processed, and staged. They are not always true representations of our life. We are now a society of likes and followers and it can be difficult for people to separate self-worth from these statistics.

Lack of attention span for kids- As I mentioned about teaching, I think teachers would have to be part-time entertainers at this time because kids need constant stimulation. Games and social media show that children are used to this constant stimulation. How well do kids do focus in school? Focus in general?

 An indoor society- Not enjoying the outdoors- Why not play outdoors, use creativity imagination?  As kids, we were always outside. I was always playing sports with my brothers- ie, hockey, basketball, kickball ( down the street), football, kick the can! ( ok, I am showing my age! 🙂 But enjoying other kids, siblings and spending time outdoors is something I don’t see as much of. Kids are getting started with technology and social media much earlier these days.

These are just some of the pros and cons of social media in my opinion. What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinion. Please let me know in the comments.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Jess xx