Blog #5

I believe that the world is influenced by social media. I am guilty of this because I have just about every form of social media and I am constantly checking my phone. I have a hard time sitting through class or church or anything that requires me to pay attention and not be on my phone. I think that social media has become a big influence on people by making it impossible to put down the phone and log out of the social media accounts for longer than a few minutes.  In the David Brooks article Andrew Sullivan talked about what it’s like to have “your soul hollowed by the web.” This means that in our everyday lives we have become consumed by the internet. We allow it to run our lives and we revolve our lives around it. What is the purpose though? Well I believe that the addiction to our social media accounts stems directly from curiosity. We are all so interested in what everybody else is doing. For example, when somebody posts a ten second snapchat story we get curious about it so we watch it. It entertains us for ten seconds and then its old news. But for the ten seconds that its going on its interesting. It has pulled us in. social media has that effect. That is the same thing with other accounts such as Facebook or Instagram. You post something and get reactions and then after a day it’s over with. That’s what social media is all about. It’s all based on curiosity and getting reaction from our peers. I don’t know how to explain why it has such a large grip on our lives but I know that it will only get worse from here. With as much as technology is changing, day-to-day life will be affected by the internet one way or another. It is one of those habits that we acquire that is impossible to break. Kind of like if you’re a nail biter it hard to break habits like that. Social media is the number one reason why people have such a hard time staying focused.  If your mind is on a text message your waiting for or a snapchat you don’t know how to reply too, then your more than likely not going to be paying attention to what is going on in your class. Social media is in a way harmless but at the same time it does cause major problems in your life.

 

Word Count:420