This was originally written for publication in the July 29 edition of VARSITY. To read a different take on whether our lives are being consumed by social networking technology, click here.
We are living in a time where a person cannot exist outside of an online social network. If your existence is not verifiable via a quick Google search, then you are not a real person.
Social networks, similar to websites that allow people to study, work and shop online, have improved our quality of life. News and information is easily accessible, and can be shared to a large audience within seconds. Social networks allow users to create, edit and curate profiles (as seen with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), and have become integral to identity development.
Identity development is partly dependent on an individual finding a sense of belonging within a group. Social networks have drawn back the boundaries of a variety of these groups, and made it possible for people around the world to connect and socialise with each other.
The opinions and information shared on Facebook and Twitter create an online space for like-minded people to come together and have larger conversations.
Wherever you see someone walking with their head down and their thumbs poised over a touch screen, you can be sure that they are busy doing admin on their internet life. Maintaining an active presence on social networks is hard work, and if it is done right it will leave no time for offline interactions.
And therein lies the dilemma: how can we have a presence online, without leaving our bodies to wander around alone offline, like strange orphan-zombie hybrids? Do the online identities we create necessarily have to take preference over our offline lives?
The fact is that people get caught up in the profiles and identities that they create online. Social media currency such as follows, comments, “retweets,” shares and double-taps become the markers of a successful life.
Interactions online are often superficial, and people represent themselves inaccurately. Only the pictures, opinions and quotes which are guaranteed to garner the most attention are posted or shared. The details of the real lives of the people using social networks are distorted, exaggerated or omitted to produce a succession of perfectly-lit photos and tightly edited conversations.
These perfectly produced personas are difficult to keep up with in the physical world. People who are online acquaintances will see each other out in the streets, and choose not to acknowledge each other at all.
A face-to-face interaction that isn’t mediated by the internet and a mobile device is daunting. It puts pressure on people to be as interesting/ happy/ successful/ beautiful/ well-spoken/ fashion-forward/ intelligent or witty as their profile claims they are. Considering this, it is understandable that keeping online friends separate from offline friends would be the less stressful option.
Social networking is about control, after all: we all want to control how we socialise, with whom and to what end. Social networks provide all the tools for this, and they also make it possible to bypass (or forget) traditional social etiquette.
Social media is making advances every day, and no one can afford to be left out of the technology loop. Moving forward with technology can mean that ordinary human interactions lose their quality. Therefore, we as social network users have to keep the effect that our internet presence and activity will have on our real world relationships in mind at all times.
Nkhensani Manabe 