Social media is weird. Many people love it, many hate it, and even more feel something in between. With social media constantly on the rise, there have been attempts to fight it's spread because of the idea that it's limiting actual in-person interaction. How are so many of those movements shared, though? Through social media, of course. Like I said, weird.
I'm a dancer, so choreographing pieces and telling stories about controversial topics are right up my industry's alley. I remember the first time I thought about the trying to stop social media by using social media was watching a piece on the famous dance competition show, "World of Dance."
The two dancers held phones the whole time and never actually looked at each other, showing how disconnected from actual people phones and social media can make us. The more odd thing, though, was that I was watching the video on my phone through twitter. My focus on my phone obviously made the dance seem truer, but I would never have seen the piece and it would never have affected me if not for social media.
The Youtube series "Ted Talks" is also a culprit of the issue. I've seen so many episodes that talk about the dangers of social media, but the entire series is broadcasted solely on YouTube. How can you tell users to stop using social media when you're relying on their using it for almost ALL of your revenue? For the millionth time, I just think it's a little bit odd.
We try to fight social media, but we so often fight it with social media. I understand the idea that social media is distancing our society and making actual interaction harder, but it's also one of the fastest and most effective ways to get information to the majority of society, so why fight it? The truth is that we all need to find a balance for ourselves. There's a point that is too much use of social media, but it's also different for everyone depending on what you're using it for and why.
Now I'll say it again; social media is weird. Almost all of society knows it's harmful but still uses it because it's useful- kind of like old cars before we made ones that made less pollution. Maybe eventually we'll find a solution to the dangers of social media someday, too, but for now, I'll keep posting on mine.
