Superficially Connected: Social Media and Loneliness

An interesting article that focuses on social media and technology creating the feeling the loneliness, no in fact this writer goes on to argue that we’ve been pushing each other away long before technology came around.  But now that it’s here, it has created an even bigger gap between people. The writer emphasizes that social media and technology “is not meeting our innate, biological need for true acceptance and touch for someone who knows you, and accepts the real you, as opposed to this idealistic falsified image of you.” We all are sucked and glued to these screen that promote the social connection and relationship, when in fact these outlets are making feel even more lonely than before. She argues that it’s not the internet that created this idea of isolation, but the internet and social media sites feeds off of the loneliness we already feel.

      Again, another article that focuses on cutting back more time from the internet and being on screens all day, this writer actually acknowledges that loneliness came before the age of technology. However the internet, social media and technology make makes our loneliness, our depression even worse. “Putting down our phones isn’t the answer if we are too self obsessed and consumed by our own thoughts to actually engage with one another…” We’ve become so independent and focused on the individual that the importance of community is lost.  Parents of the generation born into the technology obsessed world, it’s about teaching your children how to communicate, not to be too selfish and know how to interact with each other in face to face experiences and not relying on a gadget.

(image via google, article via desert news)

Selfie, A Mental Disorder

It is a thing, can hardly believe that is real but as of 2014, the American Psychiatric Association makes it official that ‘selfies’ are in fact a mental disorder. I’m not sure this is something that needs serious address but it is definitely something to talk about, especially with children between the ages of 10-18. The disorder is defined as, “the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.” Reading and hearing about I’m not sure how I know what to think about this being an actual disorder, but parents be concerned.

      Now that kids, even children is elementary school have phones this is something that parents definitely need to be aware about. The American Psychiatric Association defines this disorder as serious and I even has three levels broken down into Borderline Selfitis, Acute Selfitis and Chronic Selfitis. There are actually people out there and its high among high school age kids that are taking photos one themselves 24/7 and posting and sharing photos on social media site more than six times a day, a day!!! Parents, it’s time to be disciplined with your kids phones!

(image via google, article via aps)

Does Technology Make Us More Lonely

Written in The New York Times, the journalist goes on asking over and over if technology makes us feel more alone. It’s a compelling article that examines the way we live our lives glued to the screen and social media. We’re almost living in a dystopian world that is so often portrayed in our books and movies, we’re living in a culture that is completely obsessed with viewing our lives than actually living it. This isn’t just a problem with adults, it’s our children’s lives. It’s the first time ever where children are being born into the age of technology and information. They know life only to be this; it’s our job, our responsibility as a society to teach children life is meant to be lived not looking down and missing out on what’s going on around them.

      Parents of tweens, probably need to be the most aware of this problem. For those families who allow their children to have phones and tablets, it’s important to create a balance of technology play time. Letting your children sit and play for hours on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, you need to be aware of the severe consequences; your child is missing out on life. These outside influences are shaping our youth and physically rewiring and shaping their brain due to constant screen time. This is the first time children are expected to have shorter life spans than their parents because of an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle.

(image via google, article via new york times) 

The Internet and The Age of Avoidance

Kristin Howerton is a professor of psychology at Vangard University in Southern California and fulfilled a lifetime goal, speaking at a TED Talk Conference. Her main thesis of the evening was how we use the internet as ‘zoning out and logging on.’ She explains how this is how our generation escapes stress, pain and negative feelings about ourselves… to the point of losing ourselves in the abyss of the internet and completely forgetting what’s important to us.  I think she’s right in saying it is a new way of escaping immediate problems. However escaping what’s going in our own lives and getting sucked into the world of social media this may be even more detrimental to our mental health.

      By checking out by plugging in we’re in a new world of stress and sadness because we’re seeing the happy lives of other people. The people who boast and post and share images of happy moments doesn’t exactly make us feel good. We can’t help to compare our lives to our friends and the people that show up in our news feeds. We’re avoiding talking with people in real time and in situations that allow to be in the same room with someone. Avoiding a problem by escaping to the internet or a game is not healthy, for parents it’s important to be on the lookout if your children are going through hard times in other areas of their lives and creating a comforting environment so they feel safe to talk about the greater problem.

(image via rage against the minivan)

Connected, But Alone

Sherry Turkle is a cultural analyst who has been studying technology and how it shapes who we are as individuals and how it is shaping our relationships with others, ourselves and with technology. She has spoken at many engagements but it’s her presentation at a TED Talk Conference where she shares how technology and social media is changing who we are as people and how addicted we have become to devices. We’re becoming detached and less connected than what the platforms promote and they are changing the way to communicate and engage in everyday conversations. Simple things like looking each other in eye and shaking people’s hand is having to be re-taught because we are losing what it means to be present in our lives.

      With technology becoming more and more a part of lives and it ending up in the classrooms, I think it’s crucial that with technology classrooms we share both the good and back of what it has to offer. Certainly technology has allowed for many wonderful things, the immediacy and instant access to information, the global connection and become information obsessed. However, we are slowly learning that there is a bad side to becoming technology savvy as well. All the time we spend on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is not healthy, in fact they are making more depressed and lonely. A truly inspirational video and something to be shared with the family, listen to Sherry Turkle.

I Forgot My Phone

A short film that depicts the life a young girl surrounded by friends and family who simply cannot disengage from their phones, this two minute is just sad. “We can edit and exaggerate, we put our words into order until our lives are glistening, we don’t even know if anyone is listening.” (Gary Turk) That is the way we live our lives, We live in world constrained to the four sides of a computer, tablet or phone and don’t realize we’re stuck in this world of isolation. This video shows just that, the actress playing the girl without a phone is living her life, trying to be in the present with her lover, her friends and family while they take pictures, text and talk to people in the presence of her. Everyone else is stuck elsewhere, while this one girl is living her life in real time.

      A sad video, it is something everyone needs to watch. They is no dialogue and no life to the video because everyone would rather be looking down at their phones than living their own lives. As adults, this is something we must teach and emphasize to our children. It’s our job to show them that wasting your life away on the computer is not the norm, being plugged into a device is not normal or healthy for anyone. Parents be mindful, be aware of your children’s life and make sure they live it outside and with friends. Don’t let your children stay in all day glued to a screen. 

Look Up

Another truly amazing video that focuses on technology and the feeling of loneliness and sadness, a video that has gone viral and reached over millions of people, this five minute clip is truly powerful. Look Up was created by Gary Turk, who in poetic form talks of ‘devices as delusion’ and a ‘world of confusion.’ His video is about looking up from our phones and noticing the world around us, talking to people, spending the day at the park playing with our friends on the swings and being in the now and not on these devices that us away from the world around us. It’s a miraculous video that he urges us to watch in hopes to promote looking up instead of instead of down.

            A video to that everyone needs to watch or listen too, Gary Turk is a master at verse in the    short five minute video, explaining we need to live off in reality and not in realm of ipads and phones. His message of missing life by being glued to devices, this is a message that we need to teach and encourage in school and to our children before it’s too late for them to be sucked into life of social media. Turk describes these medias as anything but social and he’s completely right, they make us compare our lives to others and make us feel our lives are inferior to those posting and sharing grandiose parts of their lives. That fights and bad days are the norm and being plugged is something we no longer participate in. Gary Turk is on to something and it’s our job to get up and look up from our phones