Technology, in terms of communication, is one of the best representations of duality that is usually present in each of our acts, on the one hand it facilitates some experiences. On the other hand, there is a serious danger: to move away from experiences, so connecting with others is becoming easier and, at the same time, more difficult.
Social media, for example, allows us to bring what’s far away closer: we can connect with people thousands of miles away faster than a wink, as well as knowing which places others usually visit, what they like, what their favorite pastimes, or how their social circle is doing.
- The danger of this lot of possibilities arises when what happens on the screens functions as a substitution.
- Not an add-on.
- Of traditional forms of communication.
- So connecting with others is much more than pressing the ‘like’.
- Talking face-to-face involves many nuances that are lost in ‘WhatsApp’ and photos rarely have the power to reflect a complete reality.
- Or at least as complete as the one we capture with our eyes live.
Do we run the risk of become dependent on networks, forgetting to contact people through looks and gestures, of forgetting the nonverbal language that we interpret when we have the opportunity to do so?Read? Someone else, pretending in the pictures when I really don’t want to show the world how we feel. The secret is to make the most of new technologies without losing or leaving aside anything they can barely offer us.
We define our line of action when we feel the need to enter social media in our day-to-day life, when an experience is no longer valid if it is not in these media. When living and enjoying is no longer enough, we begin to feel the need for others to know and participate in our time.
Far from reflecting reality, a study by researchers from the universities of Wisconsin, Haverford, Northwest and Toronto found that couples who posted the most on social media were more dissatisfied.
In general, it can be said that the people who need it most from abroad (“fall in love” with their contacts, visits to their profile, etc. ) are also the people who need it most in their inner world. Self-esteem won’t need others to give their approval in photos or trips, meetings or friends, because they simply use social media to connect from time to time and be closer to other things and people, but never out of necessity.
Do not forget that talking or talking involves more than keeping your eyes fixed on a screen or writing several messages, seeing photos, for example, is not seeing landscapes either. As this does not mean expressing a complete opinion, it is simply a “here I am and I follow you”.
The true essence of our day-to-day life is etched in our memory, and it would not be good to leave this experience leaving us fewer footprints than the digital one, as reflected in a photo. A moment can hide an emotional inspiration that we can lose if the only way to look is the camera.
Without losing the ability to connect immediately with your friends, or give up this possibility in a few moments (it doesn’t hurt to put your mobile phone aside for a while), it would be nice to take the time to have a coffee, have a regular conversation, travel the possibility of giving a hug, blinking, taking the hand, since we have the methods and the will to do so.
It’s true that it may not just be us, it seems that most people prefer digital communication to face-to-face communication, and being able to spend time with them is practically a miracle, so if you don’t want to lose touch with these people, they have no choice but to go where they spend most of their time : the digital world.
There’s a life behind every profile. We are more than an image or a contact, each person is a world of which little is reflected on social networks, so connecting with others is more than being ‘online’ at the same time. If you try to find out and get out from behind the screens, you’ll see what reality hides and saves for you.