Always on social networking as a way of being

a prisoner in the united states has

recently been released from prison

spending 44 years in prison for

attempted murder

now he’s walking around very different

new york city as you can see pictured

here

and he’s bewildered by the world in

front of him he sees these people

walking around the streets with

headphones dangling from the ears and

they’re talking to themselves

and he’s reminded of cia agents he’s

really bewildered because he can’t

anticipate anything like this happening

so he’s wondering to themselves

why are these people not paying any

attention to their surroundings and

instead

are studying their smartphones while

crossing the street completely engrossed

in their own personal bubbles

as you can see within 40 years

technology has dramatically changed

the way we live and the way we relate to

one another

i study this i’ve always been fascinated

by technology use

and i’ve always been wondering why is it

that we are using technology

on such a frequent basis why is it that

we

often use our smartphone the first thing

in the morning and the last thing

at night why is it that we spend hours

engrossed

in our smartphones checking our social

media feeds

just checking whether anything else has

been happening on our social networking

sites

and that’s exactly what i want to talk

to you about today i want to discuss

with you

why i believe that social networking is

indeed

a way of being now social networking

is a part of social media people use

social networks in order to connect with

other people

who are sharing similar interests lots

of you will be using facebook

instagram twitter youtube on a regular

basis

but there are also more niche sites that

i would consider social networking sites

these sites contain uh online games for

example like world of warcraft where

people share the interest in online

gaming together

but also websites such as online dating

sites like

tinder for example where people share

the interest

in dating so lots of us will be using

several social networking sites we’ll

have several accounts

and on average we have about eight

accounts now this is quite a few social

networking accounts

if you ask me social networking really

allows us to connect with people around

us by means of

using technology now how do we use

technology on an everyday basis

i’ve got a couple of examples for you

from my own life

now what you can see here is my friend

anna this is during a da vinci

exhibition

in london last year we went to see the

beautiful drawings

and anna as you can see she’s really

enjoyed the drawings but at the same

time

she was really keen to engage with a

social networking site

in order to share the experience with

our friends who couldn’t be there at the

time

that allowed those friends to feel part

of the fun although

they were not present not physically

present at the time

and at the same time it allowed her to

feel

connected to her wider group of friends

which was a great experience for her

now here this is me taking pictures of

johnston canyon

in the beautiful rocky mountains in

canada last year as well

an amazing beautiful scenery and of

course i had to capture

that experience because this is what we

do nowadays isn’t it

capturing experiences to make sure that

we can authenticate those experiences

and this is exactly what has come out of

my research we capture

experiences to authenticate them to make

them real social networking

allows us to make experiences real if

those experiences weren’t shared on

social networks

they might not exist they might not be

there and this is what has come out of

my research where participants have told

me

if it’s on social networking sites you

were there you were present

and this is indeed how people are using

their social networks

in an everyday context on an everyday

basis nowadays

in addition to this what i’ve got here

for you is my

smartphone use um you will have your

smartphones and your smartphones will be

able to tell you how you’re using your

technology

now this is a screenshot of me using

technology um

the other day it basically was midday

and i had already spent one and a half

hours

using primarily my social networks half

an hour spent on facebook about half an

hour spent on whatsapp

that is one hour of use by midday social

networking sites only and i spent some

time on some other apps

i’ve unlocked my phone 20 times by that

time and i had received 92 notifications

bearing in mind that i have indeed

switched off most

of the notifications for most of my apps

now i ask you to do the same

check with your phone how much time are

you actually spending

using your social networking sites you

might be surprised

i do that kind of exercise often with my

students and i ask them or check your

phone tell me how much

how much time are you spending on social

media on social networks

and very often what happens is that what

they think they’ve spent on social

networks is significantly lower than the

actual time

their smartphone will tell them that

they spend on those social networking

sites

so this is how we spend a lot of our

time social networking

is a way of being in the present day and

age

we are living increasingly mediated

lives and social networks

or social networking isn’t just

something that we do but really

social networking is the way that we are

it’s a way of being it’s how we relate

to other people

it is a very important way of how we’re

able to connect to the world around us

and now is also the time where a new

generation of young scholars has grown

up

really finding that the increasing use

of social networking

is an integral element of their everyday

lives

now this is what has been referred to as

the always-on lifestyle by one of my

favorite media scholars

dana boyd now what she says is the

following

it’s no longer about on or off really

it’s about

living in a world when uh whenever you

want to

er you need to be networked to people

and information wherever and whenever

you need to and this is just assumed so

this is really the status quo

that basically means that in the first

place social networking is the status

quo

this is how we are living our lives and

this has come out of my research as well

i’ve asked participants

about their use and that those tend to

be young technology users

and they say to me they’re using their

social networks in order not to feel

alone they’re always connected they can

use their messages

they can use their calls they can use

their text to stay connected

it also allows them to combat any

periods of loneliness as well

because even if they might not be able

to engage with other people

in their immediate social surroundings

what they can do is to engage with their

social networks

and this allows them to feel connected

to feel that they are part of a group

to feel that sense of belonging and of

community

as well secondly it’s also um

assumes this quote assumes that really

you know being

part of a wider community being

networked at all times is something that

is assumed in this culture in our

present-day culture

that loves technology just like i do

just like you do i’m sure we’re all

very regular technology users social

networking users

dana boyd herself refers to having to

take a digital sabbatical

in order to disconnect in order to take

a holiday

from connecting but the caveat however

is that really what you will do is to

still use the social networks

but decide which messages to respond to

and which messages not to respond to

and this is the kind of freedom that we

have with social networking sites so we

are

indeed living the always-on lifestyle

social networks

allow us to live the always-on lifestyle

and this can be seen here now this is a

picture of my very dear friends

isabella in we did last year during our

annual christmas dinner

we get together as a group of girls

during the festive period

to enjoy a dinner out and what you can

see

they are doing is indeed being engrossed

in their technology

rather than communicating with the

friends around them

and it’s a very interesting phenomenon

this is something

that the media scholar and sherry turco

would call being

alone together so you’re physically

present you can see the girls sitting

next to each other

but really they are alone they are

engrossed in their own very individual

personal bubbles and i wonder you know

is it really the case that disconnecting

from

your social surroundings your offline

social surroundings

is better than disconnecting from your

online social surroundings from your

online social groups

it seems like this is indeed the case

this is an example of where this has

happened

now this phenomenon has also been

referred to as fubbing

snubbing somebody by means of being on

your phone have you ever witnessed this

have you ever been a victim to this or

perhaps

you have indeed been the father where

you’ve been using your technology

whilst you are out for dinner with your

family and friends

this is a phenomenon that keeps

appearing whilst people are using social

networking

on a regular basis why are we engaging

in this

well um this has been related to and

i’ve seen it in my research where people

are have the fear of missing out they

are worrying

about not being part of the rewarding

experiences

that others might be having where they

might not be part of it because they’re

not engaged

in their social technology the thing is

is that research also shows us that

people who have a

high fear of missing out have a lower

well-being

they have a lower life satisfaction and

they may in general

use social networking sites um

more than other people who don’t have a

high fear of missing out

during my research i’ve talked to lots

of psychotherapists around the world

who are seeing people who are affected

by excessive technology use

and i will give you a quote from one of

the interviews that i’ve conducted

now this was a psychotherapist who told

me

um that the young clients that he sees

those young clients who are using

technology a lot

they fear the sort of relentlessness of

ongoing messaging

so messages come through all the time

they need to respond

all the time they need to engage with

their technology

immediately at all times at the same

time he says that but concurrently with

that

is an absolute terror of exclusion now

what they do not want to happen

is to be excluded from their social

networks and in order not to be excluded

they need to engage on a frequent basis

they need to

immediately respond on an immediate

basis

um and i found that really interesting

especially as i’ve been told

by participants in my research there was

one participant he was in his early 20s

he said to me that when he’s at home

he’s sitting on the sofa he’s watching

netflix he’s got his phone in his hand

just like this

he keeps it in his hand just like an

extension really of his arm why

because he thinks that he needs to be

able to immediately respond to the

messages that are coming through

and i was amazed by that because it

really means that

he’s taken quite literally the idea of

technology

being an extension of ourselves and you

may be aware that in the 60s the

uh the canadian marshall mcluhan has

been talking about technology or media

being the extension of man and i think

it’s so much more true

nowadays in the present day and age 60

years later

technology has become an extension of

ourselves

it’s an extension of our physical body

as you can see this

phone fits very nicely and elegant

extends nicely and elegantly in my arm

and at the same time it’s extending my

mind it helps me to connect with others

it helps me be entertained at all times

it helps me

remembering appointments that i have and

reminding me of people’s birthdays for

example

social networking is an extension of our

sta

ourselves it is the way that we live

life nowadays

it allows us to authenticate our

experiences

and to make our experiences real social

networking

is a way of being in addition to this

i’m thinking about

social networking uh really fulfilling

our basic needs as humans what are the

basic needs

that we have as humans now let me

introduce you

to the hierarchy of needs abraham maslow

was an american psychologist

who came up with the hierarchy of needs

this is a theory

of human motivation of human behavior so

you behave in particular ways

in order to have a need fulfillment and

those needs they are

categorized based on different levels so

on the bottom you will find the very

basic human needs physiological needs if

as you

as you please those kinds of needs for

food water and sex

and then you’re moving up the pyramid to

the higher level needs

in order for the higher level needs to

be met the lower level need

needs need to be met first so you will

find the other needs

that are moving on across the pyramid as

well

safety belonging esteem and

self-realization

now what i found and this is actually

quite an interesting phenomenon

is the fact that those kinds of needs

this theory

of the hierarchy of needs can be very

nicely applied to our social networking

and i will show you how first of all of

course we need the very basic needs we

need the internet connection right so

without the internet we wouldn’t be able

to engage with our social network so

this is a very basic a very fundamental

kind of a

need as there were okay now but in

addition to this

uh social networks allow us to meet our

safety needs

they allow us to meet our need for

privacy

we can customize our social networking

sites we can decide who can friend us on

social networks

who can follow us who can view our

information who can comment on our posts

who can engage with us on our social

networking sites

this is the way in which social networks

allow us

to fulfill our needs for safety

in addition to this our social

networking sites

will allow us to meet our needs for

belonging

we can connect with other people and

i’ve talked to you about this

one of the fundamental functions of

social networks is for us to be able to

connect

to have friends to have followers to

engage in social dialogue

to share experiences to share ideas

with our network so the need for

belonging

is a very crucial need and i will put it

in the words

of the cyber researchers julia and

wellman they said the following

where old communities had streets and

alleys online communities are bound by

bits and bytes

so really our social networks are our

online communities our social networks

online

are the present day communities that

we’re using just like

perhaps in the olden days we would use

cafes and bars as well

now we have social networks to

complement this

in addition to this now the next level

need this is the need for esteem this

can

also be met using social networking

sites

we do this by gathering friends by

gathering likes so

an increased number of friends and likes

would create the perception

as if we have a higher esteem we stand

in a higher esteem and

we are viewed in being viewed in a

higher esteem

in addition to this social networking

sites allow us to compare ourselves

with other people and that’s

particularly the case for visually based

social networks such as instagram for

example comparisons are ripe on those

kinds of sites

we can compare ourselves in terms of the

lifestyle that we have

or that others have or physical

appearance for example so comparisons

are a crucial way of how to judge

evaluate

your esteem or that esteem of other

people and then finally

we when we reach the pinnacle of the

pyramid we will find

the need for self-actualization now

self-actualization

is indeed the highest level need that

can only ever be met by a very small

proportion of people so it’s the highest

attainable goal

in terms of human motivation on social

networking sites we can meet the need

for self-presentation we can present

ourselves

in an idealized form we can present

create

the best impression on those social

networking sites

and of course we do that by presenting

ourselves

in the best possible light you will very

rarely find anybody on social networking

sites

posting pictures of them having only

just got out of bed after a long night

or very rarely will you find people

sharing negative

or unhappy moments in their lives

perhaps a divorce or a bereavement

is a very rare occasion so

self-presentation

allows us to present ourselves in that

kind of a way that is idealized

that is edited that is changed in order

to present

the best possible self in addition to

this

social networking sites allow us to

support uh

other people on those sites we can

actually offer advice we can listen to

other people on those social networking

sites

we can engage in that community spirit

or perhaps we want to simply send them

some funny videos

of pug puppies for example of little

kittens just to cheer them up

to improve their day so small little

things like that allow us to engage

in self-actualization and therefore

maslow’s theory

of the hierarchy of needs can be very

nicely applied

to social networks as you can see social

networks are

a way of being they are a way of being

and they are a way of relating

now i advocate social networking for

those wonderful things that allows that

they allow us to do we can connect to

other people

we can maintain our communities we can

create

new communities based on our shared

interests

with other people shared interests with

other people who are part perhaps

of another part of the world there are

no restrictions

in terms of time or in terms of space

this is what i call the time and space

compression connect anywhere

anytime with anybody who shares your

particular interest whatever that

interest might be

at the same time however there’s a

little caveat that we need to bear in

mind you know

it has been suggested that an excessive

use of social networking sites may

indeed be problematic for some

individuals or perhaps

even addictive now i wonder if we were

to assume that

being on most of the time and using

social networks most of the time is

indeed the status quo

and most people are on most of the time

then where does that leave

problematic use i wonder and that’s why

i’m thinking really you know what can we

do

in order to use those social networks in

a healthy way

in a beneficial way to really make use

of the opportunities they give us

without experiencing the possible

drawbacks

and i have actually got a few tips for

you based on the research that i’ve done

over the years and i encourage you to

try out those tips and let me know

whether or not they’ve worked for you

they’re very simple they’re very

straightforward

but they can be highly effective so my

first tip is

make use of social networking sites

actually it might sound counterintuitive

but i recommend

to for you to make specific times in

your day to use

social networking perhaps half an hour

in the morning and an hour in the

evening

take that time get it out of your system

and then get on with the rest of your

day

now my second tip is to ensure that you

have

technology-free times for example dinner

time

okay so spend your dinner time having

actual

good old conversations with your family

and friends okay

and in addition to this have technology

free spaces

in the house like the bedroom for

example i’m sure your sleep will thank

you for it

and then the final tip that i have for

you is to put the phone away

when it’s not in use and that really

allows us to just put it in the bag

put it in another room out of sight out

of mind

there is a time and a space for social

networking

i’m daria coos here at tedx arborist

with

you