Whilst naturally this metaphor is going to be biased in perspective it lays out many of the key features of society noted within the last few, recession deprived years. Major players being incorporated into our everyday life: the need for access to the internet, the surrounding claustrophobia of technology and the nonexistence absence of the likes of ‘Facebook’ from our lives.
Evidently however this is no such element of negativity in our lives, however could it be? We commit to our jobs, our families and our sharing of information – all freely of course. Alternatives are there, the – somewhat handicapped – benefits system, a life alone and a disconnection from the knowledge of what society is doing as of now. The only reason this newly discovered element makes face into our lives is because we welcome it, embrace it for it’s true value for society.
Speaking of values: our friend ‘Vincent’ happens to be a combined banking-marketing-sales extraordinaire, knowledgeable of course on all products, on the money that we all value so dearly and without a doubt the economy. It is therefore an inarguably brilliant idea to approach him for his opinion on social networking, for us naïve members of society have nothing to lose and all to gain in terms of knowledge on our own day to day living conditions. Now it is our turn to ask the question, but this is no feat for ‘Vincent’ to overcome. This brilliantly presented metrosexual man has his answer already prepared, after all, he knows. ‘Social media is simply the greatest benefit we have made available to us’ – the first golden nugget of information we learn. Grasping onto each and every word we have little choice but to beg for an expansion on this idea, wishing not to be kept in the dark about his views. ‘‘To people like me’’, and I quote, ‘‘the social network is the best marketing tool man could create’ ‘It allows for us to sell you a product at any time, but not just any product, a product tailored to you via all the information you provide daily’’.
‘Tailored’ to us? What better a reason could we have than this to enable identification of our lives; after all, modern society moves quickly, saving time in a way alike this is beneficial to all. In no way detrimental?
‘‘Socially society has evolved, much in thanks due to social networking’’
‘’The electricity used in the use of social networking ultimately ends up benefitting the economy through tax and the likes of’’
‘’After all, how else could friend A and friend B communicate with such ease?’’
I had to stop him there: ‘Vincent’ was blowing through my boundaries for enlightenment of brilliance for one day. He has a point, we all think the same whilst reading that. Socially we are all so much closer, universal, able to talk so fluently to one another over text, so flawlessly typed. Nowadays overcoming the boundaries of not seeing the other reciprocates emotions are simple, why one just incorporates a ‘:D’ to show joy, or a stigmatic ‘-.-‘. The need for face to face social interaction is less than ever, something we as society naturally embrace, for interaction takes time, and our capitalist motto of ‘time is money’ could never be truer.
You get the point. Social networking’s effect on our lives has been as great as the tone of menace from the strong, metaphorically feminist, business like woman sitting to our right, disgraced at the use of ‘man-kind’ and my creation of a ‘man’ for the wider metaphor rather than a unisex character named ‘Sam’.
Daily we offload information private to us without whole knowledgeable consent, daily we allow for our face to face interactions to be interrupted. These issues themselves are detrimental, but detrimental to modern society? How can something be detrimental to society if it is society?
