Are we becoming a generation of Social Zombies?

(image - http://pplware.sapo.pt/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1386353562_w670_h377.jpg)

Are we becoming less social?

I understand that this might be a strange question to ask in a time when almost everyone spends their days constantly refreshing their twitter, instagram, snapchat, facebook (I could go on) feeds. 

A recent article by The Times noted that we spend an average of 2-4 hours on our phones each day. When you see the numbers written in front of you it’s INSANE. Of course my initial reaction was denial “NO WAY do I spend 2 hours on my phone everyday!” but once I actually thought about it, it (scarily) made sense.

I wake up and like the majority of the people I know I immediately check Instagram to see what the Americans have been doing whilst I’ve been asleep. Twitter is the next stop where I read the ‘In case you missed it’ tweets and then I head straight to see what’s trending (usually something to do with Trump or Brexit) to gather the information I need for the day before even putting my feet on the cold bedroom floor.

Randomly throughout the day I will refresh my instagram and twitter feeds and in the evening I purge through both apps to devour everything that has been posted whilst I was at work.

Scrolling through one of the apps a few days ago I realised that I wasn’t really taking in anything that I was seeing. It has become a habit, muscle memory. If I’m waiting for something to load on the computer I’ll automatically reach for my phone to fill the time, if there are adverts on the TV I’ll tap onto Snapchat. It is as if we cannot let our brains be still.

“This generation is more connected than ever”. I’ve heard this line muttered umpteen times over the years. In terms of having access to millions of people worldwide this sentence is undoubtedly true but when it comes to people’s actual real lives I disagree.

When at a pub or in a restaurant I see tables of people with their heads buried into the bright blue lights of their phone screens. Silence. People are connecting but not with the flesh and blood beside them.

The need to be constantly connected, for our brains to be forever active and the need to be validated at all times is unarguably chipping away at our mental health. 

It seems like the only time we are switched off is when we are asleep and even then we sometimes pick up our phones in the middle of the night.

More young people than every are suffering from mental health problems and of course this could be down to a variety of different reasons but it is hard not to see the amount of time spent on social media as one of the main culprits.

Somebody (I can’t remember who) stated that if we as people were to consume crappy, fatty, sugary foods 24/7 then we would expect our bodies to begin to rot inside and that we should also think about this in relation to our minds. If we constantly consume crap, trashy ‘news’ (Hiya Daily Mail) then our minds will begin to suffer. 

Don’t get me wrong I like social media, it’s handy for my job and to keep up with what’s going on in the world but we need a break from our screens to stop this ever threatening journey to becoming a society of social zombies. Maybe in 20 years time when the Walking Dead will be on its 30^th season it will be a load of living people walking around with their eyes glued to their devices. Ok, maybe not, but it is food for thought.

I'M PERFECTLY HAPPY, THANKS: THE NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING.

"It's because you think you're too cool isn't it."

This is what some people think/say when I announce to them the seemingly shocking news that I do not use Facebook.

"But, like, everyone uses Facebook!"

Its not that I don't have a Facebook profile, I do. It's just that I don't care enough to log on. This might make me seem selfish, rude even, but I really do not care what other people whom I do not regularly speak to are doing.

The people that I adore the most and the people I count as my closest friends are in my phone. I text them, phone them and FaceTime them. I follow them on twitter and instagram and regularly meet up for coffee and a chat. These are the people that I care about. I don't really care about that girl five years younger than me that recently went out on an "awesome night out" and felt like posting a gazillion pictures of her and her "mates" drinking in a pub.

Social media is a wonderful, revolutionary and amazing thing. It has changed the way in which we live our lives, how we communicate and how we see the world. News is instantly available to us through twitter and push notifications from our preferred news app. Friends are but a click away and thousands if not millions of amazing people are influencing the world one blog post at a time. I am in no way berating social media or Facebook.

Facebook is certainly a great site. I mean, if it wasn't then it would not have become the mecca that it is, or arguably was, before Twitter and Instagram came on to the scene. Families and friends can stay in contact when they live thousands of miles apart and pictures can be stored in albums to look back on in years to come.

It is certainly not Facebook that is the problem. Rather, it's the fact that people want to constantly know what you are doing and where you are going - that's the problem.

I overhear conversations where people discuss certain events - who was there, what happened etc. - as if they themselves were a part of the celebrations, only later finding out that they deciphered all of this information from a few photos posted on social media.

It might just be me (it most probably is just me) but unless my friends are there or unless I am there I don't feel the need to learn every detail about THAT party.

Having been away at university for three years and recently returning home to live I am totally out of the loop and have no clue what is happening locally. I mean, I know what my friends are doing but I don't know the ins and outs of the lives of people that I barely remember from school and I don't feel that I need to know either.

I live at home but work an hour and a half away thus meaning that I spend most of my day either in work or on the road and my weekends are taken up with me attempting to catch up on sleep, attempting to relax or visiting friends and family in all corners of Britain.

I am certainly aware that people might think of me as 'strange' for not wanting to know every detail of everyone's life but I am perfectly happy just being involved in the lives of people that I genuinely care about.

Conversely, I regularly fangirl over writers, comedians and bloggers on twitter and instagram - people that I only know through the screen of my laptop. These are people that I admire. They produce incredibly witty, intelligent, beautiful and important work that I feel everyone should witness. The difference here is that I'm not prying to see what they got up to on the weekend, who they're hanging out with or what they wore to that party last weekend. Instead, I am updating their twitter feed to see if they have posted a new article, a new stand up show, some important news. These people are providing content that makes a difference - well, to me anyway.

I am an avid social media user and would dread to think what I would do if twitter, instagram or blogger were taken away from me, but when did everyone get so involved in other people's lives? I understand that we as a people have always been nosy, inquisitive, interested - whatever you want to call it - in other people's lives but when did it become an obsession?

Please don't think of me as weird or 'a bit up herself' for not wanting to know every detail of everyone's life. I care what my friends and family are doing and I care about the work the people I admire are producing and that's enough to keep me occupied for now. This might well  change in the future but for now I am quite happy.