If social media platforms are about communicating, it seems like the quantitative, gamified elements are harming human connections. However, if social media platforms are about content creation, it feels like a step up to have more interaction, more democracy and more opportunities to express our voice. And that's the tricky part. We use the term "communicate" when we would never walk around offering a thumbs-up and counting the number of times we like anything. We would never keep our conversations in a ticker-tape archive. And yet, we speak about platforms through a lens of content creation, where terms like "subscribers" or "page views" is perfectly logical. Social media allows people to see themselves as simply "hanging out" with friends and yet we also see ourselves as reporters, commentators, creators. It's hard sometimes to figure out if we are creating and living in our
Truman Show. It's hard to tell whether the need to capture life is encouraging us to be more thoughtful and intentional about making memories or if we're missing the moment because we are treating life as a reality show. So, that's where I'm left feeling conflicted about social media. I like hanging out. I like communicating. I like writing. And I love the friendships that have developed as a result of this. I look forward to conferences like ISTE, because I'm going to meet these online friends in person. However, I'm also aware that I can Twitter away an hour and miss the life that's happening around me. If I'm not careful, I can try and capture life instead of letting life roam free. I can go to a forest and imagine what it will look like on Instagram instead of realizing that I'm standing somewhere sacred.
