Daily Business Zen: Is there such thing as too much social media?
I ran across an interesting book review about the younger generations and social media. An article by David Robinson of the Wall Street Journal reviewing The Dumbest Generation, by Mark Bauerlein, says:
Mr. Bauerlein presents a wealth of data to show that young people, with the aid of digital media, are intensely focusing on themselves, their peers and the present moment. YouTube and MySpace, he says, are revealingly named: These and other top Web destinations are “peer to peer” environments in the sense that their juvenile users have populated them with predictably juvenile content. The sites where students spend most of their time “harden adolescent styles and thoughts, amplifying the discourse of the lunchroom and keg party, not spreading the works of the Old Masters.”
Interesting. I wonder if this is a good thing?
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Tags: Daily Business Zen, Social Media, Web 2.0
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May 14th, 2008 at 6:51 am
While there is certainly something to be said about too much wasted BS on-line, ’social media’ is a blanket label used by people (esp. traditional media folks) to explain why we don’t take their version of the news as-is, and why we look for other voices and opinions.
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May 14th, 2008 at 7:44 am
It’s all in how you use Social Media. In its early stages I used Myspace to talk about useless things and have grown to promote my business and services as well as connect with others that have meaning to the things that I do.
If you use it as a time waster, then yes, it is a time waster. Anyone can get lost doing anything, Social Media is just one of those “things.”
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May 15th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Thanks for the discussion Greg and Norcross. I agree that using it properly is key. But I think the point is that most people, most people college years and younger are not using it wisely. We’ve never seen anything of this mass that attracts this many young people. I think I can see where the social media can be a determent to a childs learning and development.
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May 16th, 2008 at 2:53 am
It’s not the medium that’s at fault here, the whole idea of Web 2.0 is user-generated content. The technology is growing up alongside this generation — so yes, right now, most of the content is going to appeal to silly twenty somethings or younger. But like any technology before it, the quality of the communication has to do with those communicating, not the technology itself.
As we mature, hopefully the content will too - likely in pockets here and there of people who are attracted to grown-up content. The quality of the things you’ll see on your social network is only going to be as good as the quality of friends you add to your social network.
Remember: Blogs don’t post drunk pictures. Bloggers post drunk pictures.
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May 16th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Cassie,
I like the point of blogs don’t post drunk pictures! But I still feel like you guys have a more positive attitude towards the human race!! I agree as we age the content we search out and post matures with us. But I think the issue is the teenagers.
Teenagers will always be teenagers and is there to much social media, like there is to much TV and video games? I think we all would say yes, they all need to be done in moderation, so its not really a new issue. But I feel like social media is a bigger media than video games and TV. At least video games are done as a group often times, you don’t see many facebook profile parties.
Its more a new fold to the problem laid on top of the challenge of the next generation. I guess the question is, does a teenager lose something in developing when they are watching you tube video’s of ghost riding their car opposed to participating in community service, or networking at an after school program? Is this just a parenting issue?