How Social Media Is Ruining The Authenticity Of Generation-Y

In our current global society, technology is advancing at extremely high rates. Whether it’s the latest iPhone or touchscreen computer, we are all attracted to communicating in the fastest ways possible.

Do you remember when the first iPod hit the market? Now, it’s as sleek as a phone, with amenities possible and accessible for social media use.

Our world is “verbally” changing. Social media sites have transformed the communication pathway into a non-verbal “texting” society.

Yes, the rise in social media has encouraged each of us to interact with one another around the clock but it has also built a bubble of barriers and threats that, in reality, allows us to disconnect.

With technology creating this wall around our lives, it allows one to hide behind a tweet, email or text. It allows the receiver to indicate or imagine an “emotional illusion” that the sender perceives.

Are we really communicating? Can we decipher between communication quantity versus quality and superficiality? We now have refuge to hide our true immediate responses behind our emoticons.

In return, this impairs our own abilities to pick up on body language, which can potentially cause misinterpretation of actual problems.

We tend to forget who we are in this digital age. We tend to create ourselves from an online perception that’s defined by who we follow and tweet.

As a generation born into an age of digital progression, many of us lose track of really enjoying life and instead, select moments to frame.

This tragic verbal disconnect allows us to actually miss out mentally on special occasions because we are so busy trying to Instagram the moment rather than mentally and emotionally being present.

When was the last time you didn’t have a phone on you? I dare you to go one day without turning it on and dare you to leave your house without it.

Go to the park, go for a run, have lunch with your mother. Do something that doesn’t involve the latest “foodie” Instagram or “throwback Thursday.”

It’s not that this evolution is horrible; it has given you, me and the world a beneficial way to communicate and staying up-to-date on global events.

However, it has given room for cyber bullying. It has also transformed offices and professional relationships to placing a stronger emphasis on non-face-to-face communication.

As global citizens, we need to take severe notice of how technology is affecting who we’ve become. We are humans who have decided to rely on texting and hiding behind screens.

We forget to live each moment and savor it because we are too busy tweeting and sitting there, hoping someone will retweet the thought.

Next time you post or tweet, be authentic. The ability to stay authentic is the last thing we have left of ourselves that the Internet hasn’t fully taken over… yet.

Top Photo Courtesy: Fanpop