Some social network
platforms limit the amount of intimacy we experience with others, while others
build stronger relationships. Sites geared towards rebuilding, reconnecting,
and making relationships stronger include myheritage.com and classmates.com. These
sites allows users to connect and share their life with family members and old
classmates. The site that I will focus on for this post that limits intimacy is
Facebook because many people are familiar with it. Although this site allows
people to connect with many other people, organizations, and companies, there
is no way to have a close relationship with every single person on a friend’s
list. It is better to have a few close friends than many friends that are not
intimate. Another aspect of this site that limits intimacy is that most people
use it as their primary form of communication. Instead of meeting up with a
person, they would rather write on a wall. Now of course this is convenient if
the person you are communicating with is overseas or in another state.
I have
not used the apps that link people together, but they sound good for people looking
to get together and not so much because your location is known. As more and
more of the social networking sites are developed, there is less face-to-face
communication. Even when people are face-to-face, they are stuck on their
phones on a social network site communicating with someone else. This ruins the
true intimacy we have personally while making the digital intimacy stronger. The
people in our daily lives don’t deserve to be isolated because it is easier to
communicate online.
Rose,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post! I do agree with you that these social networking sites are for reconnecting and establishing friendships but becoming friends with everyone is impossible. I do believe that sometimes Facebook or other social networking websites can help people stay in touch and save friendships from being destroyed. I also have not used any apps for developing a relationship. I am just not interested in something like that. I do also hate how most people nowadays are into their phone more than the people they are physically with. Even though they are staying intimate with people who are not with them, they are loosing intimacy with the people they are actually physically with.
There are many aspects of your post that I do agree with. Facebook has been a rekindling site for me and many of the people in my family that I do not get to see often enough. I find that by connecting with them through facebook, the next time I do get to see them, the small talk is out of the way and we are able to focus on pure family time. I enjoy this about social networking. One thing that I love that you mentioned is how every day life with people involves us being on our phones rather than paying attention to the person we are with. I am guilty of this and I know that most people who own a phone and have social networking sites are; however, I do try very hard to limit how often I use my phone when I am with family or others who I am meeting up with for face to face conversation. I like how you pin pointed this and showed the importance of face-to-face interaction without cells. Nice post!
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