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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-08-12, Page 5Wednesday, August 12, 2015 • Huron Expositor 5 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com Is social media making us less social? Have you ever had someone tell you that social media is making us less social? I have, and I don't get it. How can something designed to connect peo- ple push them further apart? The argument goes like this: We're so involved in our phones, tablets and monitors that we don't talk to people face-to- face as often. Some go so far as to say we prefer to talk to people online rather than in real life? Is this true? While there is some truth to this belief, I think it's a bit shortsighted. Sure a lot of people are guilty of checking Face - book or Twitter during a conversation or while friends or family are in the room, but what are they doing on those sites? They're engaging with people. They're being social while they're being social. It's a bit rude, but there it is. Facebook and Twitter haven't stopped us from connecting they've changed the way Column Matt Recker we connect. How many people could you call friends before social media? How many can you call after? Social media is not just a way to talk to people we already know it's a great way to meet people and form new relationships. About a year ago I met Alex and Sydney. The couple played the game Dota together and I met them through random matchmaking in the game. They were good players, friendly, funny and I loved playing with them. I quickly added both to my friends list on Steam, a video game plat- form for PC with social media elements. We played and talked for months and our relation- ship went from Steam to Facebook, then from Facebook to Skype. It's been over a year since I met Alex and Sydney and I still talk to them every day and consider them two of my best friends. The problem is, Alex and Sydney live in North Car- olina and I live in Can- ada. We've never met face to face yet I consider them dear friends, this would not be possible without social media. How can social media be making us less social when people can become friends with people in other countries? But beyond that social media plays a big role in maintaining friendships. Take my friend Andrew Schweitzer for example. I met Andrew in my first year of college in 2008 and he moved three prov- inces away from me to Calgary a couple years after graduation. Nor- mally two people would stop socializing in that time, but now with social media and its ability to connect people across any distance Andrew and I talk more than ever. We chat, share stories and comment on things. Without social media this would not be possible. We would be relegated to e-mails or texting, if we still managed to talk at all. I think this "we're becoming less social" stance is a gut reaction. We see someone at a computer or on their phone and think they should be out talking to friends. Technology is making us more iso- lated," but stop and think: how often did we spend time with our friends in the same room before social media, and has that changed since? Facebook and Twitter wasn't a thing when I was in high school. I think Myspace was around but nobody used it yet. I would go to my friend's house to play video games or watch a movie about once a week. Nowadays it's about the same. Every week I either go to a friends house, go out with them somewhere for a drink, see a movie, go for coffee or just hangout. Keep in mind now I live on my own and have a car so I have much more freedom than I did back then. So not only has my face-to- face time with friends remained about the same, I talk to friends every single day through Facebook. People I see in real life, people I rarely see and people I've never been in the same room with. So does social media really make us less social? Well it doesn't for me. I can't speak for anyone else but the way I see it, if social media is keeping you from Corrections socializing with friends and family than the problem lies with you, not with the medium. While it's not a perfect system think of how many connections you'd have with people without it? Think of all the high school and col- lege friends that have moved away that you would have lost contact with. Think about the family in other coun- tries, the ex -girlfriends and boyfriends that you're still friends with and think of the people living thousands of miles away that you would never have met otherwise. Think of all those people and tell me technology makes you more isolated. Last week, we had a letter to the editor as an edito- rial, which it should not have been. Sorry about the confu- sion. Also there was two of the same letters to the editor. For future references we encourage resi- dents to submit letters to the editor, but they must have a name attached to them. Thank you. MedicAlert®.The bracelet with an emergency hotline linked to your child's medical record Call 1-866-734-9425 or visit wwwmedicalert.ca