We live in an era of permanent accessibility, permanent connections to others, and permanently glued to our electronics.
Social Media was developed to stay in touch or get to know new people, to communicate instantly and easily with them.

But do you realize that this lifestyle is actually making us more lonely?

We aim to have MORE friends, be in contact with MORE people, have MORE social connections - but we just end up feeling more lonely.

When I found this beautifully animated video the other day, I just had to share this and write about it.
The words are quoted from Sherry Turkle's TED Talk "Connected, But Alone". Script, Design & Animation by Shimi Cohen.

Quantity vs Quality

Social Media -especially Facebook- has completely distorted the term "friendship."
Someone you just met or even a complete stranger could be adding you on facebook - now all of a sudden you're "friends".
Now we all know that those are not true friends - but can we even differentiate between TRUE friends anymore?
We are so connected online constantly, texting, tagging and commenting - but apart from your closest circle, when was the last time you actually met up with one of your online friends in person ?

I feel like everyone learns to keep a smaller circle of friends while growing up. That's just life.
But social media is making it even harder for younger people to make real friends, since everybody is your online friend.

We are sacrificing CONVERSATION for mere CONNECTION.

While having countless friends online and being more connected than ever, in reality many of us are still lonely.

Real-life conversation vs. Online conversation

Have you ever noticed how carefully we display our lives online? Of course, we only post what we choose to share, only the best moments, only the fun memories.
We've all heard that before, but there's actually another aspect to this:
We are constantly communicating online. When someone texts you, and you don't know what to answer right away - no problem, just have some time to think and answer later. (I think we've all been at that point where we couldn't open up a certain messenger app because then we'd have to respond to someone!)
And even more than that: We can delete tweets, instagram posts, or comments.
We can edit captions. We can even edit some text messages.

We carefully choose what to say, and have the option to edit or delete it later on. That's why people are afraid of real-life conversations.

In real-life conversations, you have to respond in real-time.
No option to think about what to say, no one else to ask for advice, no option to edit or delete.
Real-life conversations are so much harder. That's why people started to avoid them.
Which of course, only makes us more lonely in the end.

We are expecting more from technology, and less from each other.

Social Media is not only changing the way we act and communicate, but also the way we think and feel.

It gets us "where we are most vulnerable": it presents us with 3 fantasies that we like to believe.

1. We can fully control what we pay attention to
2. We will always be heard, there is always someone to listen online.
3. We will never have to be alone, we are constantly connected.

"I SHARE, therefore I AM."

This is a quote from the video that really stuck with me.
It's obviously an alteration of the famous Descartes quote, but it couldn't be more fitting for our current times.
If you didn't take and share pictures at an event - did it even really happen? Were you even really there?!
Of course that's a little extreme, but it is almost what our life has come to.

And it's only just begun.

Who knows how far Social Media will develop in the future ?!

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