Nowadays if you don’t have any form of a social media account and you are under 30, then you are excluded from society’s social norm. I can honestly say that I am separated from social media for no longer than 30 minutes. The only time I would be separated from it for longer would be if I was working, or my phone died and therefore I am forced to not use it. The question is though has this negatively or positively impacted our society?

I would say that without social media I would not be as connected and close with my friends. It’s not necessarily using the platforms to speak to one another but it is used to observe another’s life, and feel involved and up to date with them. Instagram allows me to see where my friends went out to, or exciting stories that have occurred in their life. Twitter keeps regular discussion between my friends and I, and snapchat makes conversation easy to start and end without having to say “hello” or “goodbye”. Facebook overall shares relationship statuses, photographs and text. It’s like I don’t actually need to speak to a person to know what’s happening with their life.

This is where the question about real connection is drawn. If I don’t have to speak to people in my social circle to understand what’s going on with their lives, am I really connected to them at all? Or am I just observing their life from afar? When you think about it, I can understand and observe what happens with any celebrity but I wouldn’t call them my friend, we don’t have any personal connection at all.

Although, I believe that social networking has kept my friends and I closer, especially family. Some of my family lives overseas and therefore the only way to keep connected is through a phone call or social networking. Utilising social media platforms has allowed me to keep connected with those I don’t see much more in person. The phenomenon has its peaks and its lows, however, overall, i believe it has created a more connected community, we have the option to keep track of friends and loved ones without the struggle of finding time to catch up.