Social media is everywhere. Sometimes where we don’t even notice it. It can be on a screen or, as in “Rewire” by Ethan Zuckerman, it can be in an art gallery. Nearly everyone in the world has been touched by some form of social media at some point, some, more than others.

@EthanZ I was amazed by the stat in Chapter 1 of Rewire from USCD researchers that Americans receive information 11.8 hours per day #NHsmc

— Michael Burke (@michaelburke47) February 1, 2016

 

In the first chapter of “Rewire” Zuckerman outlines how technology can be a double edged sword, citing the example of SARS.

 

@EthanZ Rewire: "the case of SARS suggests that connection is a double-edged sword," not sure if this chapter scared or fascinated me #NHsmc

— Rachel Gilbert (@rachel_cgilbert) February 1, 2016

 

I interpret this as “technology is great, but we need to be careful.” Social media is so widespread and so many people have access to it so we need to be careful about how we interpret what we see. From Zuckerman’s example of the short film “Innocence of Muslims” which led to an international incident, to Kim Stoltz, a model, tv personality and author who checked her Wikipedia page to find out she had died a week earlier.

 

In an interview with Time Magazine, Stoltz said she thinks “a lot of relationships have been ruined by one person’s addiction to social media.”

 

Although a lot of material on social media can be addicting and deceptive, so many people are addicted to it. Stoltz also said that in an informal survey of her friends, 10% of them had checked their phone during sex.

 

Technology has developed social media in good and bad ways. We dedicate so much of our lives staring at a screen, taking in information that is often meaningless or not true. Maybe we should take a leaf out of Picasso’s book and visit an art gallery and the roots of social media.