Socializing in the Age of Social Media

We humans are social animals, whether we are the introvert type or the extrovert type, deep within we always look for a suitable company to share our thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions. There was a time few years back when socializing meant people coming together to see each other, spending time with each other, going out to play, hanging out together in groups at the same place in the same time; probably if we ask our parents they can better share their experience of how they used to connect with people at a time when there was no instant messaging facility, forget calling them and seeing them live on your mobile phones or desktops.  

We consider ourselves lucky enough to belong to the age of the World Wide Web and more…the age of social media. We can easily find long lost friends, can instantly talk and chat with people, even see what and how they are spending their lives, let them know about our whereabouts, also follow our favorite social figures, know about the latest happenings of their lives and so on. This way our world has widened. And we feel so close to the lives of the people we are fond of. We can easily get updated with information about their lives and share our own status, feelings and emotions all virtually.

The ways and techniques of socializing have changed through times and so did our habits. But the feelings of meeting our near and dear ones face-to-face, their physical presence, makes a lot of difference. We must keep in mind that the social media way of socializing is just a way to make our lives easier at times when we have difficulties to reach out to people; it’s not the sole way to socialize. There is no doubt on the immense advantages of using various social media platforms, but we should analyze ourselves if in this process we are losing our skills of interpersonal communication. Hanging out with friends and making memories, actually getting together and talking to them gives the real satisfaction and is a more effective form of communication. On the contrary through social media no matter how fast we can connect with people living far away from us or people whom we barely know in person, there is still a virtual space that exists which cannot fulfill the place of a real friend.  At times, this virtual world may push us into a form of social anxiety as we are updated with too much of information of people enjoying the luxuries of life, travelling around the world, etc. making us perceive that we are living a rather dull and unsuccessful life. This is not a reality but an illusion which we start to accept unconsciously. This is the point we should realize that we are socializing too much on social media and we need to get a real life with real friends.  

Staying updated with the latest trends and technologies is always good but we should keep analyzing if we are not losing something in this run. Using social media platforms in moderation and balancing our real and virtual world is necessary to stay happy and satisfied.

University of Science & Technology Meghalaya is one of the top Universities in Northeast India. USTM have under graduate programs as well as post graduate programs. PhD programs of USTM are one of the most renowned in Northeast India.  We also have Engineering programs, BA LLB, PG, MBA, B.Ed. & LLB programs among others. USTM Seminars & Placement in USTM is one of the best in entire Northeast India.