Performing For Others Online Is Not the Same As Connecting With Others
We’ve grown into a society that spends lots of time performing. Here’s why that’s a problem.
A recent, excellent article from The Atlantic pointed out:
In their early incarnations, platforms such as Myspace and Facebook were relatively harmless. They allowed users to create pages on which to post photos, family updates, and links to the mostly static pages of their friends and favorite bands.
In this way, early social media can be seen as just another step in the long progression of technological improvements — from the Postal Service through the telephone to email and texting — that helped people achieve the eternal goal of maintaining their social ties.
But, gradually, social-media users became more comfortable sharing intimate details of their lives with strangers and corporations.
They became more adept at putting on performances and managing their personal brand — activities that might impress others but that do not deepen friendships in the way that a private phone conversation will.
Once social-media platforms had trained users to spend more time performing and less time connecting, the stage was set for the major transformation…
