Next Steps

Due to the large impact that social technology has on face-to-face social skills, the technology that was created to bring us together is actually pulling us further apart than we have ever been before. We are currently enveloped by the addictiveness of social media and other social technologies. Unless we limit ourselves in the time that we spend on Facebook, Skype, Instagram, and other social media applications and websites, they will overtake our way of life and completely destroy our abilities to read, respond, and connect to each other in face-to-face situations. By limiting ourselves, we can start to make real connections with other individuals. 

An easy way to help prevent that future is to take a few days with others in a technology-free environment. Situations that could be taken advantage of to have a technology-free environment include going on a vacation, to summer camp, and camping. If people were to take time off to do so, we could minimize the damage that social technology is causing on the Millennials and the generations that are to come.



Works Cited:
Baskin, Steve. "Unplugging Our Kids: Steve Baskin at TEDxSanAntonio." YouTube. YouTube, 23            Jan. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Bindley, Katherine. "When Children Text All Day, What Happens To Their Social Skills?" The                  Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
Imam, Jareen. "The Anti-social Network: Life without Facebook - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News              Network. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Johnson, Chandra. "Face Time vs. Screen Time: The Technological Impact on                                            Communication." Face Time vs. Screen Time: The Technological Impact on Communication.              Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

Turning it All Off

There are multiple benefits to turning logging out of social media sites, even if for only a few days. Logging off can increase privacy, decrease distractions, and even raise a person’s self-esteem. According to a CNN article by Jareen Imam, there are plenty of reasons to deactivate or log off of a social media account. Her evidence includes a study from Utah Valley University that found there was a “direct correlation between the amount of time spent on Facebook and the way people perceive their lives”(1). The results of that study found that users who use social media sites more often think that “their Facebook friends have better lives than themselves”(1). This means that people are basing their self-worth on what others are posting online. Many users also exaggerate the content that they post so that they have a persona that only captures their best qualities. The basis of self-worth on people who create a “perfect self” creates a vicious cycle that chips at the subconscious mind of users. 

Imam also makes the point that logging off of social media accounts encourages users to make “a greater effort to socially engage with others”(1). Also according to the article, the “average Facebook user spends more than six hours a week on the site”(1). That is six hours of time spent in an exaggerated reality that can be put towards practicing our social skills and connecting with the real people who surround us. If we take breaks every so often from social media, we can focus on the skills required to actually connect with others. 

Detachment Between Conversers

Have you ever talked to a person whose demeanor practically screamed that he did not know how to talk and interact with another human being? Believe it or not, that social awkwardness is becoming the norm for the generation of individuals born between 1982 and 2004, dubbed as the “Millennials,” and beyond. Social technology is supposedly designed to make us “more social” is actually detaching us more than ever. Steve Baskin points this out in the TED talks video titled Unplugging Our Kids. Baskin makes an analogy in the video that people today are becoming more and more like Neil Armstrong on his lunar landing in 1969. He made the point that even though he was completely surrounded by the technology that allowed him to walk on the moon and connect to everyone through their television screens, Armstrong was “more isolated and alone than… any human being has ever been”(Baskin). Armstrong was literally alone on the moon with the exception of Buzz Aldrin, yet he was broadcasting what he was doing to the entire world. Similar to Neil Armstrong, people are enveloped in technology which they use to broadcast what they are doing to the world over the internet, yet are alone while they are using social media. 

Baskin also shares a story of one of his former camp counselors who was called to resolve an argument at the college he works at. He says that the two were posting grievances about each other over facebook, and when his former counselor walked in to break it up, neither of the two were talking to each other and were on their laptops. Can you imagine arguing on a website rather than confronting the person you have a beef with? They were in the same room yet they were arguing each other through a screen! Baskin ends his presentation by explaining how summer camps gave a high school teen the “ability to turn [technology] off and turn her personality on”(Baskin). With a little practice in the social skills that we lack, we no longer have to use technology as a crutch, and we learn to make real connections in face-to-face situations. According to Baskin, that connection can be achieved by a mere five-week break in a tech-free environment.