How are modern social media impacting our relationships?

Posted on by Xinxin Xu

In this day and age with globalization, social media today is the most popular common way of making connection among people. As we know, modern social media includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. has entered every aspect of our life. Hence, how are modern social media impacting our relationships?

Nowadays, the speed and scope of spreading information become much easier through social media platforms. People virtually connect to each other on Internet through sharing the same information, which make the relationships among people become more closely than before. For example, I can easily know what happened to my friends from their social media, which can help us keep in contact for longer time.

However, the demand of information is much more than the information is flowing. People only see the information they want to see most of the time. And the culture or environment differences among people are an impenetrable wall surrounded us. Compare to the past time, we know each other face to face in real life. But at present, the differences of cognition cause the virtual relationship we build online become harder to go into real life.

According to the book Rewire by Ethan Zuckerman, he points out that “our challenge is not accsess to information; it is challenge of paying attention. That challenge is made all the more difficult by our deeply ingrained tendency to pay disproportionate attention to phenomena that unfold nearby and directly affect ourselves, our friends, and out families.” (Zuckerman, 2013)

In addition, since we are in the information era now, social media changes everyday incredibly than we think. Therefore, it’s important to know the new trendy social media content in the upcoming year as well.

Resources

Zuckerman, E. (2013). Rewire: Digital cosmopolitans in the age of connection (1st ed., Vol. 1). New York, NY.

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