#socialidiots

"I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." -Albert Einstein

I wonder how direct human communication has changed over the past few years with the incessant innovations of social media. I seldom speak on the phone anymore, I'd much rather "speak" with someone by texting. Some days the greater part of my communication is comprised of a combination of texts, tweets, likes, and facebook comments. I have, more often than I'd like to admit, read into the affect and tenor of someone's message through these digital sources. I believe we can all think of a time we received a simple text message and formulated a supposition of our communicative partner's underlying intent.. "So then he texted me back, 'k.' He did?! OMG what an effing a-hole!" Or of one of the other social media outlets that we  likewise anatomize.. "yo she liked like 10 of my profile pics, she for sure wants the d.." It's strange to think of how these social media sites were initially developed to connect us with the "outside world" when really it appears as if they are actually shutting us in. I recently watched an episode of "Catfish" and I was shocked at how easy (and common) it is to hide behind a computer screen and develop a full blown "relationship" with a stranger. I just googled some statistics about online dating and found a study by Match.com. Most of the stats seemed to be bias as it was conducted by an online dating site; however, it did reveal that adults with internet access are more likely to be in a relationship than those without it. How the heck is sitting behind a computer stalking vacation photos and over analyzing wall posts contributing to the personal facets of forming an intimate and genuine relationship?! I can just barely grasp the "social" aspect of this, and the longer I think about it, the quicker it's slipping from my mind. 

On another note, I wonder what happens to the integrity of our (hopefully) unique and insightful messages when we speak in hashtags and our thoughts are condensed to 160 characters. Everything has become so instant, so temporary, and so impersonal.  How often we sit down with another human being and have a genuine conversation without the simultaneous mindless stroke of our thumbs across the smooth LED lit surfaces of the devices attached to our palms?  Don't get me wrong I love technology and use social media everyday for both functional and entertainment purposes but I think the speed and facility of everything in our lives is changing us. The immediacy, impersonality, and impetuosity of social media has not only significantly lowered our attention spans and heightened our anxiety but also is beginning to depreciate our thoughts and ideas. What is this lack of face to face communication doing to our characters?