Turn On and Tune In, but Don't Drop Out - The Future of Social Media

(Image Credit: My Melting Brain on Flickr)

The social media trend shows no sign of ever slowing down. Demand for social media has grown since its invention, and technology has done an excellent job of keeping up. I think social media's success is mostly due to its "social" aspect. Humans are social animals and any invention that allows us to communicate in new and efficient ways is bound to be successful (see: telegraphs, phones, computers). However, our love of social media is second only to our dependence on it. If a major social networking site is ever down for any longer than a few hours, it's a national story. Social media outlets (like phones) have now become a vital part of the way we communicate in our personal and professional lives. 

The increased connectivity that results from that dependency may be concerning to some. Could we be turning into the people plugged into the matrix? Will the social media technology ever reach the point that non-internet interaction will be useless? The Dilbert comic for October 14, 1994 conveys a similar concern. Could "the next big thing" in social media be humanity's last invention? Maybe at some point, but that's hardly a reason to ignore the benefits of social media that exist today. At the risk of running this analogy into the ground, don't unplug yourself from the matrix completely, but use moderation and find a balance between social media and regular social behavior. You can spend more than enough time using social media and still be an upstanding member of society. 

There is another inherent risk in becoming dependent on any kind of technology. The Y2K problem is an example of a time when many people were legitimately scared for their lives because of a potential minor error in what was even then an extremely integral part of society. While these fears turned out to be mostly unfounded, a major global computer malfunction--if such a thing is possible--could be a horrible tragedy.

Could our dependence on social media ever become a problem? Well, it certainly could; there is no shortage of science fiction novels written on that or similar subjects. But does it seem likely to happen anytime soon? One hopeful note is that when Scott Adams wrote the Dilbert strip in 1994, he thought the technology was over ten years away from being developed. 18 years later in 2012, the technology is still considered to be over ten years away. The future may be too hard to accurately predict to get scared over what might happen in the future. 

Another hopeful note is that innovation rarely occurs with the objective of making people more isolated. Like I said before, many inventions are driven specifically to increase the efficiency of communication. Social media is one of those inventions. Because of it, information--which is the essential aspect of communication--is more freely available than ever and there's no sign yet of that ever changing (in fact, it's only getting better). The stereotypical image of teenagers with their face buried in cell phone screens may bring to mind images of mindless droids plugged into    (Image Credit: AslanMedia on Flickr)

 the matrix, but really it's just one of the many ways friends can talk to each other these days. The truth is, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, social media isn't going anywhere. Younger and younger kids are starting to use it more and more regularly and it is truly vital for many people's social lives and many companies around the world.