@cmajor & @mbloomstein bonding by the lights of our iPhones
Originally uploaded by cmajor2
This photo taken by Ann Handley of @marketingprofs of Margot Bloomstein http://twitter.com/mbloomstein and I at the recent Lowell TweetUp got me thinking. Does social media really bring people together?
While this picture was a bit exaggerated, it isn’t uncommon to see groups lost in their mobile devices when they are surrounded by “real” people. I am very guilty of this “addiction” but it is almost socially accepted nowadays, especially within the social media scene, but that doesn’t make it right.
Like millions of other people out there, I love social media and I can share with you dozens of ways in which it has changed my life. One of the biggest, of course is that social media has actually made me more….social. Go figure.
Connecting with old friends via Facebook and meeting new friends through Twitter has increased my social network. I have made many new friends as a result – some who I consider to be my very close friends (I hope they feel the same way).
But…..it has also shut me off from other things in my life. My family for instance who do not share my enthusiasm for social media as much as I do, often feel left out as I am laughing at an @ reply one of my friends might have sent me. They don’t understand what a hashtag is nor do they care how many followers @oprah might have (I don’t either, but that is just an example).
What I am trying to say is that with everything in life, there has to be some kind of balance.
So, from now on I am going to try really hard to put my iPhone down when I am around real people, especially my family.
Social media is about being social both online and offline. If I am only online all the time, I will never truly get to know anyone in real life (IRL).
I encourage others to put their mobile device away when entering an event (unless, of course you are live tweeting from it). But if you are there to network, then network dammit. If you are with your family, then BE with your family. Don’t just “kind of” be there.
For me, the addict that I am, this will be difficult, but I think it might open my eyes to what is right in front of me. Real people – like…whoa!
What do you think? Does social media truly bring people together??
