Our Social Media World | Michael Laffey

We’re all connected to social media either directly (individual usage) or indirectly (seeing how others use it around us or tag us).

Here are three videos which, together, I feel capture some essence of the world of social media and smartphone habits.

1. What If We Lived “Real” Life As We Do Online?

2. How Does Social Media Make Us Behave?

3. What’s the Outcome of a Five Day Social Media Cleanse?

The Modern Parable?

When it comes to serving up our digital utopia online, how much of our perfect lives do other people want to see?

This tongue-in-cheek article might be truer than we think.

Food for Thought:

Does social media enhance life experience?
What determines the need to post or share something?
What usage levels feel right or extreme? How do we register these in ourselves or others?
Are we expected to be on-line and available at all times? What permission is needed to tune out or in at will?
With so much focus about “online presence” which parts of life remain truly private? Is the concept of privacy outmoded or even extinct? Has privacy been overtaken by a trend in online self-promotion?
Are physical interactions and digital connections the same or different?
Is etiquette different with social media and smartphones to when we are in-person? How does that play out?
Have personal habits changed as a result of social media? Have you witnessed change in your own behaviour or the behaviour of other people? eg. focus, distraction, multi-tasking, second-screening, uses of downtime, sense of validation, sharing of information, communication style?
Social media can be useful and influential, eg. causes that go viral, personal activity/health tracking, business offers, etc. How much does this factor into your engagement with it?
Does de-cluttering now include a social media component? If so, when does that feel like the right time?
What’s smart? The phone or the user?

Repost: 27/12/2018. Originally posted: 26/012016

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