Memories. Ahhh Yes, Memories of My Life

Social Media

PROMPT July 11th

Imagine what the world would be like today if humans had never discovered/invented _________ (fill in the blank).

         In my humble opinion, Social Media has done more to 'dumb down' the general populace that anything in the past. Gone is common sense. Gone is common courtesy. Gone is the ability to hold a conversation with another living person. Gone is so much more that I can't write here, mainly because there's only so much space for this, and because I can't think of more right now.

         Here's a small example for you. My oldest son was proposing to his girlfriend, or trying to. He was stationed in Hawaii, and had flown her there to visit. They were on the beach enjoying the sun and surf, and he tried to 'pop the question'. She was too busy on her phone, doing something on Facebook. After trying for over 10 minutes to get her attention, he texted her the question.

         I've seen a lot of evidence in real life also. Look at us here on WDC after all! How many of us can express ourselves better by typing something instead of speaking it. How many of us (everyone on the internet in this statement) are braver sitting safely behind our computer screens than we are when confronting someone in person?

         Another example would be the horrendous amount of misinformation that's out there. People will post a statement about a situation without having the facts, without looking to verify that what they're about to type is true. After all, they read it somewhere (Probably here on the Internet), so it must be true, right? I could go on and on, but I won't.

         Some of you will read this and think, "It's only Jim. We all know how old he is, he's living in the past. He really needs to get a grasp on things, and live in the present." No thanks. Because a lot of people live in the present, but it's a 'fake' present. It's not real life. It's what they're fed on the news, on TV shows (Oh wait, TV is old school, NO ONE actually watches TV anymore). Or it's what they see on those 'Reality TV Shows'. Don't get me started on that, I could go on for another 24 hours on that! As a result of all this, we think the world revolves around us. That it really is 'All About Me'. I say that people today listen to one radio station, and only one. Good ol', WII-FM. (What In It For Me).

         So yep. To me, Social Media is the bane of society. What would the world be like without it? It wouldn't be perfect, but I bet people would be a lot more polite to each other. People would actually talk out loud to someone they are dining with, instead of each one having their noses in their respective cell phones. We might even realize how people in general are really pretty nice, and enjoy their company? We'd argue, we'd have our opinions, but at least we'd be communicating with each other. Who knows? I don't....

         Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a rant.





Jim Dorrell