Peer Response #2: Definition of being social?
Ryan’s bookmarked link on delicious.com, from ReadWriteWeb,” Study finds social media is actually social.”The article summarizes that online participation and mobile phone usage leads to people having larger and more diverse core discussion networks, proven by a new study from Pew Internet and American Life Project.
When the finding shows that technology does not lead to social isolation, the reality becomes most online users are perfectly well-adjusted by the technology and the convenience. However, from my standpoint, the success of social media is based on not only the influence of connecting people but also the fact that definition of being social has changed.
Where people’s social activities take place? Without the presence of computer and the Internet, people talked face-to-face, that is the way people being social. However, nowadays, social media came out and has been getting more and more involved in our lives, people get used to talking on social media. Facebook, Twitter and any other types of communication tools that people are engaging is now what being called SOCIAL really happens.
I just a little doubt that those who surf the web and use their mobile phones may actually be more social and better connected to the world at large than those who do not. I could not help but think whether this is a kind of technology dependency? Without technology, can people say they are still social?
Our distance shortens because all of us are taking the advantage that technology and social media bring to us, so we can say we are social when we all jump on the trend, follow it and never go back. I have to admit that I am not a heavy user of social media, talking to friends and family on facebook. I just cannot imagine how it will be if all of our social tools are left nothing but social media. In-person contact means much more to me.
So, my point of view is that, social media is actually social, unemotionally. And social media cannot be always social without the basis of interpersonal communication. After all, we are man-made creature, tangible and solid. Not a social creature behind a facebook account on the Internet.
