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