Is Social Media becoming Anti-Social?

I've become more anti-social since using Facebook etc definitely. What I've found is that I realise how stupid and irritating my friends are and what stupid comments and opinions they have (a couple of my besties have started following cricket and tennis because "that's where the guys who have money are". Yes, I know.

It's also reeeaaally affecting my life, it's like an awful addiction where I just have to be watching it at all times of the day, to the point where I disable my Facebook account when I'm at uni cos it takes over my study time. Strangely enough, I don't have this problem with Tumblr/Pinterest/Instagram, just FB takes over my life. I've recently got Twitter so I'll see how that one goes but yes. It makes me a hell of a lot more unsociable!!

Florasaurus
It's also reeeaaally affecting my life, it's like an awful addiction where I just have to be watching it at all times of the day, to the point where I disable my Facebook account when I'm at uni cos it takes over my study time. Strangely enough, I don't have this problem with Tumblr/Pinterest/Instagram, just FB takes over my life. I've recently got Twitter so I'll see how that one goes but yes. It makes me a hell of a lot more unsociable!!

I quit using facebook regularly over a year ago, i ONLY log into to check birthdays, messages, new adds etc - not even once a month. Ive basically banned my self from logging in unless its for a reason, no more "just pop on to see whos online for a chat". The result is that i enjoy going out with friends and have a really good catch up, i find this much like how i found college 10+ years ago before social media was the new way to chat and share stuff. I think theres become a strange expectation of facebook users friends to be online and respond to things more, casing those all important, pointless 'likes'.

I definitely think my choice was the right one, i do 'miss things' that i would like to have known at the time by not using facebook daily, but for the everything else its perfect now.

reply to post by InkontinentiaBouquet

After one friend asked me what 'reading non-fiction' meant when I was discussing my hobbies.

Are you SERIOUS?!!!! What a dullard!
I'd suggest it's time to do an inventory and some housekeeping regarding who are your "friends". What on EARTH do you talk about, then?



On topic: Society is reflected on the internet.
Just today I was listening to NPR (Here and Now) about "mean girls" and "bullies" in the workplace.

High school does NOT end the horrid behavior of people to their peers (or subordinates). Mean is mean. Vile is vile. We can choose on the internet, at least, to IGNORE the mean, vile people...
even in middle and high school we can manage to avoid the "bullies" -

but in the workplace, it's unavoidable, and often it's managers or horizontal coworkers who undermine, bully, abuse, work-dump, take credit for the ideas of others...

when it starts to make one physically ill, sleepless, depressed, etc. -- it's time to LEAVE.

reply to post by Biigs


Facebook is an aberration. Who really, truly has 932 friends?

I'm glad it's dying. I deleted my account over a year ago. I don't miss it at all, and NEVER look at organization or business "facebook pages".

I hate it. Who cares what someone had for breakfast?? I mean, REALLY?!!!!

ATS is far more of a 'society' of thinking individuals - we can ignore the fly-by trolls, and as Akragon said, thank goodness for our mods!

:go mods:

reply to post by watchitburn

I think it's just that the younger generations are less strong mentally and emotionally, I have no idea why this is. But it seems to me that people are loosing their mental toughness and are less able to cope with any type of criticism.

No, they're not less strong mentally and emotionally, they're OVERWHELMED by the constant bombardment of techno-info and communication. Kids nowadays know SO MUCH MORE about what's going on the world (same as us old farts)...

and I think it's about the parenting. Kids are, and have always been, MEAN to vulnerable or different kids...
I was bullied horribly in school. Couldn't WAIT to be done with it. Have NEVER gone to a reunion, and don't have the slightest interest in doing so.

Parents who taught their kids to stand up for themselves, and to be kind, raise kids who will stand up for themselves, be kind, and REJECT bullies. Parents who are too distracted or overworked or absent, or whose kids don't feel they can TALK to their parents about stuff that happens at school, don't do such a great job.

I suffered silently as a kid; I wasn't a total outcast, but was never part of the "cool crowd"...
the butt of practical jokes, rejected and ridiculed, mocked and hurt by false rumours. I HATED IT. But I also had quality friends.

It's about CHOOSING your friends carefully, and sloughing off the riff-raff and jerks.

One time my mom told me, "Honey, most of the people in the world are jerks."
I've never forgotten it; although I grew up to realize that everyone - even the asshats and jerks - are actually doing their best with what they've got - usually bad self-esteem, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities that they try to hide by "pack-attacking" those who they feel uncomfortable with.

reply to post by wildtimes


Maybe, maybe not. But I think the reasons you put forth are just those, reasons or causes for the lack of mental and emotional toughness.

The media and parents may be a contributing factor but is that enough to directly cause this seemingly widespread issue?

I don't know.

I don't interact with a lot of school age children, but I see it frequently in young men and women who are coming into the military and I can only speculate how big of an issue it is in the civilian population.

I don't think the social media is causing kids to kill themselves, I think kids today are emotionally and mentally weak. Parents coddle their children, telling them that they are the greatest, most special thing ever.

When I read this I shook my head:

Though this may seem like a pretty basic rule of getting-a-job etiquette, 8 percent of recent college grads brought their parents along to an interview, according to an Adecco survey cited by the Wall Street Journal. What’s more, a full 3 percent actually had their parents sit in on their job tryout.

Link

Bullying has always existed, and will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. Kids today need to toughen up.

reply to post by watchitburn

Maybe, maybe not. But I think the reasons you put forth are just those, reasons or causes for the lack of mental and emotional toughness.

The media and parents may be a contributing factor but is that enough to directly cause this seemingly widespread issue?

Heya, wib.....
what is it you're referring to with "maybe, maybe not"? And which reasons?
I'm sorry, I'm tired today. In my career, I've learned quite a bit about family systems and Children & Families.

Lots of people denigrate the "millenials" as being "spoiled" (everyone gets a medal!), but that is not really the issue. Integrity is something that comes from parenting. Over-exposure to the horrific atrocities all over the planet are exponentially larger than when I was a kid. I grew up during Vietnam. I knew next to NOTHING about it...
but kids today have access to EVERYTHING going on...
the millenials were in grade school on 9/11/01....they were traumatized in a way that's different from when I, at that age, had to do "drills" of 'duck-and-cover' in the hallway during the Cold War.

But MOST OF US, as kids, were not exposed to the actual, on-the-ground, chaos that is obviously part of life. Even we (the parents of the Millenials) are still shocked, horrified, and overwhelmed.

It was hard enough to figure out how to deal with the "druggy counter-culture" that was rampant in our youth and speak about it to our kids (if we did at all, and LOTS of parents of Millenials NEVER talked about it to their kids, or denied being party to it)....

9/11 shook up EVERYONE in the USA. It is unknown territory for us - parents and kids alike.
We, as parents, have to step up, address the issues (not be 'helicopter' over-protective parents) and help our kids sort this stuff out.

I have a lot of respect for you; you know that....
just asking you to explain how parenting and the media (and/or education) are NOT the cause of this?

reply to post by wildtimes


No worries,

The "maybe, maybe not" response was intended to mean that I think it's possible that parents and social media are contributors. I just don't believe that they are the sole cause.

I think it is a result of society as a whole.

Also, think about all the medications kids are being given, starting in infancy, for even the slightest hint of an ailment and the garbage kids are being fed, all could have a chemical impact on young brains.