Return to the Not So New Normal Post Covid19
let’s talk about social media
which i love and at the same time
i hate it too as an undergraduate
university professor
i hate that i must battle with my
students in the classroom
against snapchat and instagram
for their attention so to turn the tide
i started to use education software in
the classroom
that has the students use their phones
to participate
so i started using kahoot and nearpod
software and now i’ve graduated to use
instagram so every class i teach
i create an instagram account so where
do you think i get the most student
participation
instagram now i’m an avid social media
user
you can find me on tick tock now and see
me tick talking away
and don’t don’t do that now wait a
little bit later to do that put your
phone down
social media is a powerful tool but we
need to be careful with that
power for instance social media can make
you disappear
and its power makes you lose yourself
too
before covert 19 i was in a restaurant
with my girlfriend
beautiful woman and as we went into the
restaurant
she had to take out her phone and video
the entrance to the restaurant for her
instagram stories
i took out my phone i did the same thing
too
for the ground and
as we went along with the night we had
some great conversation
when the food came she had to arrange
everything
in just the perfect way so again she
could take a picture
for instagram stories and she loves to
have this song
from justin bieber yummy
playing in the background whenever she
makes a post
and after the date was over
into the night i thought to myself
are we here for each other are we here
so that we can have some content
to post on social media
or was it both who’s more important
than the person i’m with now
social medias allowed us to detach from
people
and personal interactions for years
in plain sight and with covet 19 for the
sake of minimizing the spread of the
virus
we’ve been compelled to detach from our
fellow human beings
i went to visit my mother in chicago
during quarantine i had to talk to her
through a storm door
now i’m i was traveling from savannah
georgia where i live
and i didn’t want to risk giving her
covet 19 if i had it
so she gave me a big air hug
hello and goodbye so social media keeps
us
apart attention wise
and to pile it on top of that
culvert 19 keeps us apart physically too
when the time comes that we’re able to
interact socially in the workplace
and in the classroom again we’ll be will
we be able to connect with people
will we be able to to do that the same
way we did before
are we losing the ability for
traditional connection
see my mother doesn’t like facebook or
let alone snapchat but she does
love one form of social media
marco polo have you heard of marco polo
marco polo is a social media app for
people who do not like
facebook marco polo
is an app where you can easily send
video messages
you can check when you want
and however you want on your own time so
my mom sends me these marco polo
messages
all day she loves to see faces
have you ever smiled at someone
in the grocery store and then you
realize
you’ve got your face covered by a mask
right now the only way to see people’s
faces
through zoom or skype or some social
media app
and social media something that we used
to love when it was new and exciting
but look at what’s happening during this
revolution
social media gives people the super
power of invisibility
you can confront anyone you want usually
strangers
with critical sometimes harmful remarks
you never say in person
are those 1190 people you’re connected
with on social media
your friends is that guy you follow on
tick tock who does the renegade dance
your friend you know the renegade dance
right
it it goes like like this
whoa
flap the figure eight
the wave so
you never meet that guy in person by the
way
but you’re connected on tick-tock
so would you invite him over for your
birthday party
maybe you would if he was going to
entertain you with renegade
but certainly not as a guest
because i don’t know
i’m really concerned i’m worried
that our ability to communicate
effectively
with one another one-on-one which is
incredibly valuable
is being lost
living in the digital age it’s easy to
avoid
face-to-face communication we can
text on social media apps video chat
and even send video messages right now
because of the pandemic
we’ve resorted to these methods more
than ever to stay connected
in most cases we can go to someone’s
social media feed
to find out what they’re doing and it
takes a lot less energy to check
someone’s feed
than to actually speak with them and
check up on
and where’s the exchange
they’re not even aware that you checked
in on
one of the hazards of this modern age is
loneliness
is it any wonder aside from the apparent
necessity
of having the skills to conduct
face-to-face communication in the real
world
it allows you to perform active
listening
so excellent communication is just not
about what someone says
it’s about eye contact it’s about
facial expressions it’s the way they
move their hands
where you move your arms and your feet
and the danger is
the real threat is that a dependency on
social media
and the need for social distancing is
damaging how we’ll relate to people in
the future
it’s not just a threat to people’s
communication skills
it’s a threat to the warm
thread of humanity empathy
connects us all
i believe cover 19 has awakened
us to the fact that we need real
connection
fellow human beings for loving support
for good mental health for meaningful
and lasting
progress in making a better world for
more influential families and
meaningful discourse in the classroom
we can do this but we’re going to have
to take a break
from some nasty habits
we’re going to have to disconnect
to stay connected
make a connection make the effort
put down your device for 10 minutes
10 minutes call your mother
visit with friends and family and look
across the table with some people that
you’re with
now make sure you’re doing social
distancing you’ve got the social
distancing
but have an actual two-way conversation
disconnect to stay
connected thank you