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| You may have countless Facebook friends and social media followers, but in the end what does that really mean? Source |
In The Fourth Revolution, Floridi argues that technology has shifted our social interactions as there has been an erosion of the “right to ignore”, and what is deemed “common knowledge” is much greater than before due to the widespread availability of information online. When you unavoidably see a picture show up in your feed of a high school classmate that you haven’t talked to in years at a party, this scene enters your mind even though you did not specifically consent to wanting this information in the first place.
With this shift, there is also an increased amount of responsibility that comes if you want to maintain a relationship. If a friend posts that something good has happened to them, it is expected that you should “like” that message. If someone posts that they feel like they have been wronged, it is only natural to post a comment expressing how angered you are on their behalf. It is no longer acceptable to simply catch up in person when meeting an old friend again by making the excuse that you had no way of knowing what was going on in their life, and this increased burden means that it may be easier to let certain relationships fall to the wayside in order to conserve energy.
Imagine someone you haven’t talked to in a while sending you a “happy birthday” message. In the past, there might have been some sense of awe and newfound appreciation for that person (“wow, this person remembered my birthday!”). But now, with all that personal information readily accessible online, such gestures become far less personal.
With all the clutter that social media adds to our lives, it has become more important than ever before to savor the genuine human connections that we have and be able to distinguish them properly. After all, our friends list and followers list do not accurately represent the connections that we have in reality.
With all the clutter that social media adds to our lives, it has become more important than ever before to savor the genuine human connections that we have and be able to distinguish them properly. After all, our friends list and followers list do not accurately represent the connections that we have in reality.
Lawrence firstly great job with this blog! I think this is one of the worst parts of social media, the erosion of right to ignore and the need to know everything. I recently deactivated both my Facebook and Instagram because I wanted to see how my social relationships would change without them. I especially like the birthday idea, In the past I would definitely have been happy when someone I havent seen in a while wishes me happy birthday, but with Facebook now I would more feel bothered by who didn't wish me happy birthday, instead of appreciating the person who did. I wonder if you see a solution to still using social media while avoiding the separation and growing apart it causes? My only critique would be you bring in a great idea from Floridi but then you stop exploring it. I would say tie the idea in a bit more when you are presenting your argument about social media.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this was a really interesting reflection. It is true that there is a pressure to have interactions with people on social media that one wouldn't have in person in the first place. It seems that this pressure is the focus of your blogpost, so I think it would benefit greatly from a more related reference. The first two paragraphs introduce the idea that so much of our information is out there and that our interactions with others are changing. Maybe expand a bit more on the right to ignore to make a clearer parallel between your main focus and the original article. It would also be interesting to have some suggestions from you as a social media user on how ethics can change in this field to reflect your views. Great job!
ReplyDeleteMy question is, if it's easier to let certain relations fall by the wayside as you say, wouldn't you have to be letting a lot (if not most) of those friends/followers go? Let's say a person has 200 friends on some social media platform. If they keep up with 20 of those (birthdays, knowing what's going on in their lives) before starting to feel overwhelmed, wouldn't they have to "ignore" the others? Taking Facebook for example, is it enough to wish them a 'happy birthday' - as Facebook makes it easy to do - and 'ignore' their posts? Or should they just ignore all?
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought about this until I read your post, but I think you are absolutely correct. As I sit here I have 11 text messages on my phone from people who I haven't responded to for as long as a month, and it's not out of disdain but rather just life moves so fast. I think you're right it makes fringe friendships more superficial, but I would like to see what you think about more core friendships. For example, one of my best friends studied abroad last year, and I feel I was able to stay much closer to him via his social media updates. Additionally, I think the use of social media allows you to cast a wider net, and be a part of more people's lives, which I see as a benefit personally. I would also be interested to see what you think about how this relates to family. Moreover, I would be inclined to disagree with the erosion of the right to ignore, because I feel as though as these online interactions become less personal, it is more appropriate to take time or not respond. Your post is really solid, but I think it would be stronger if you emphasized the impersonality of these actions earlier as these are such short assignments and it would help strengthen the overall point of your post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis that with the availability of information nowadays there is a lot of information such as birthdays that is expected to be known and reactions expected to be given. However, social media gives the ability to keep many surface level relationships and allows us to stay connected versus having only a few genuine deep relationships. I thought the analysis of Floridi's take on the information revolution was interesting but more connections could've been made throughout the post instead of just alluding to it in the beginning. Overall, the topic was extremely engaging and well formatted.
ReplyDeleteYour blog expresses interesting point about how social media affects our relationship. I also found that we might spend lots of time on social media to look at people who we do not even know them instead of talking to someone in the real world. I feel like we are getting many unnecessary information from social media.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting post to read. I completely agree with the part where you said: “After all, our friends list and followers list do not accurately represent the connections that we have in reality.” I personally have quit Facebook a few years ago and I not only have been feeling more free (of the pressure of wanting to be updated about everything), and have become more appreciative towards the people who I “have genuine human connection(s) to.” I like how you managed to present Floridi’s idea early in the blog post to allow for a smooth transition into your examples. However, it seems to me that you have only quickly mentioned it and then moved on to your points. Therefore, there is not much analysis regarding the reading. But I think it would have been nice if you could go back to his point in the conclusion part of the post to remind the audience about your thesis and put more emphasis on the reading.
ReplyDeleteHi, I think this was a very well written blog post that is easy to read and well organized. This topic is very interesting as people are using social media platforms more and more frequently. At first glance, we might think this will allow people to connect more closely. For example, we could chat with people who have already moved to another city or even country. This makes social networking simple than years before. But is it connecting people? While we are spending time to chat on social media platforms, we have to sacrifice time to spend with people closer to us. It is a very attractive topic, and I would do more research on that. Well done!
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