4 MAGICAL WAYS WE COMMUNICATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

This year, Facebook and Twitter celebrated their 10^th and 8^th years of existence, respectively. This is long enough for a number of online analysts and publications to have released some really insightful research into the effects of social media and the way it has changed our lives.

Well, one definitive statement that can be made about social media that doesn’t require an exhaustive study is that we loooove to use it as a place to complain. About work. About people. About the latest news. And more than ever, about social media itself! Generally, we moan and groan endlessly about the content we’re exposed to in our newsfeeds (even though those newsfeeds are increasingly tailoured to cater for our unique tastes and preferences, but this algorithm remains an imperfect one).

All of this complaining, together with the awareness that social media is now woven into our societal fabric and no longer a novelty, makes it easy to forget the truly unreal aspects of the most popular social media platforms. So, here we go - four magical means of communicating that are surely taken for granted:

Selected group chats on Whatsapp

Currently, I am involved in three long-term group chat ‘relationships’. There’s a group for colleagues, a group for family and even a group for me to update selected friends on developments regarding my current crush…

These group chats are powerful and addictive, allowing you to carry specified social circles with you wherever you go, each with its own tone, selection of personal <ridiculous> jokes and shared group member knowledge about one another. This means conversations that are as personal and contextually relevant as they would be if the bunch of you were sharing cocktails at Primi. That is awesome.

But more than fun and games, these groups are also informative and efficient, allowing for the immediate sharing of information with any number of selected people.

When it comes to setting up a dinner party, there’s no easier way to go about it than with a Whatsapp Group Chat. And while you’re at it, get creative with those group chat titles – they only add to the fun.

Buzz events on Twitter

In general use, Twitter is pretty interesting. But like all social platforms, it gets a tad tiring after a few minutes if you’re not logging on for a specific purpose and are just mindlessly scrolling through, waiting for something to catch your eye.

However, logging on for a definite purpose, such as to follow the latest buzz story, morphs Twitter into an extremely exciting space to be in. The Oscar Trial and the tragic MH370 flight are obvious examples of stories that exploded on this platform – if you’re really interested in something, Twitter will blow your mind with a mass of articles, contrasting opinions, quips, graphics, jokes, press releases and videos on a single topic.

Yes, it’s up to you to filter out the trashy posts from the informed ones, but this kind of honed-in and concentrated focus on a single subject is riveting, and not really accessible anywhere else.

Nostalgic connections on Facebook

At the start of this piece, I mentioned that we love to moan and groan about social media, and nowhere is the moaning or groaning more evident (or more appallingly misspelt) than on Facebook. But there is still much to be said for the original social network that stays true to its promise of connecting people.

We’ve all received that one genuinely surprising (and pleasant) inbox or friend request from a long lost friend, an old school teacher or a family member who has spent the last ten years in Czechoslovakia. Basically, people we’ve actually connected with in the past and whom, because of life’s individually winding and potholed paths, we’ve lost touch with.

There are few things as warm and fuzzy as catching up with such a person, especially when you least expect it. 

Likewise, we’ve all had that random epiphany when a name, surname and face combination suddenly pops up in our heads. A quick search and we can re-establish lost connections ourselves.

Watching sport with the rest of the world

Possible on both Facebook and Twitter, but preferable via the latter, there is an unmatched sense of camaraderie when watching a live match on television whilst also sharing unhinged bursts of emotion online.  Often, when watching a big tennis match, I am as intrigued to watch the next point or game as I am to read the live commentary and analysis from the very best journalists out there.

Sometimes, their views are quite contrasting to mine and I find myself questioning my own thoughts about the players or circumstances involved in the match I’m watching. On the other side of the coin (or is that ‘court’?), one feels a real sense of validation when your own mental analysis of a match is precisely what that big-shot ESPN journo just tweeted.

I imagine fans of football, rugby and all other sports experience much the same online. It’s all hugely mentally stimulating, challenging and sometimes even infuriating, but definitely adds to the sport-viewing experience.

We live in very interesting times. 

Yes, social media has its understandably lamented downsides – it often takes the place of real, human connections and is, if we’re being honest with ourselves, a waste of bloody time. But when it works (and you’re in an area that is – hallelujah - blessed with 3G coverage), it’s all rather mind-blowing.

As human beings, we’re naturally inclined to whinge more than we are to praise; let’s face it, complaining about something makes for a far more colourful and emotionally charged post, with a wonderful list of expletives to choose from.

But every now and then – perhaps while we’re uploading that 586MB picture that we recklessly forgot to downsize – it’s worth our while to take stock of the magic that sits at our fingertips and to tweet our most gratuitous thanks for it.

DEAR SOCIAL MEDIA, STOP BEING SO HELPFUL, I’M FINE

It’s 2014 and we’re being egged on and motivated to do more, more than ever before, without asking for it. But a surplus of motivational talk may just be leaving us cold.

It’s been discussed ad nauseam; we live in an age of relative information overload, and we can’t really escape it. Whereas searching for information just over a decade and a half ago involved scouring through a thesaurus or book of some sort and absorbing information at a somewhat digestible rate, today we are slapped with a sea of material on arbitrary and fascinating topics alike.

The very same goes for the advice and encouragement we receive from friends, family and complete strangers, often indirectly. In the past, we were more often encouraged and motivated face-to-face, once we had reached an emotional zone comfortable enough to share a problem. This would then elicit some kind of a motivational response from whomever we had chosen to confide in.

But today, we are confronted with a never-ending stream of quotes, articles and self-help blurbs without asking for them – and in fact without even necessarily needing them. This has produced – from my viewpoint, at least – a rather unpleasant emotional response. You see, the kneejerk reaction to a piece of advice is that we absolutely need to listen up, take note, and apply. After all, we all want to keep improving our lives and make conscious adjustments which will engender happier states of being.

The counter effect is that all these helpful articles and this need to play ‘philosopher’, when grouped together as a mass of information, are showing us all the ways we’re not doing things as well as we theoretically could be. We seem to have become oddly obsessed with quite blatantly telling each other to work harder, take on a new hobby, find a new line of work, not take the small stuff for granted, remove the ‘negative people’ in our lives (a particularly popular one, this), and so many other bits and pieces of essential guidance that I believe we’re only succeeding at demotivating each other. Sure, the intentions are good - to support each other and help each other grow, but people did this far more self-sufficiently once upon a time.

Several studies have been published which point to the unhappiness so many feel when scrolling through a typical Facebook news feed. One friend’s night out on the town, another’s visit to the zoo and a cousin’s wedding day all form the rather unrealistic impression that others are living more thrilling lives than your own.

Similarly, three motivational articles in one browsing session are enough to leave one wondering where on earth to begin your self-improvement journey? It’s akin to Googling two classic flu symptoms, and ending up diagnosing yourself with stage 3 pancreatic cancer; the perception we’re left with is of an urgency that doesn’t match up to the reality.

What do we take away from all of this? Well, we are simply being fed more information than our internal processors can cope with. It’s so important to take much of what we consume online with a pinch of salt – every now and then, yes, it feels good to really invest in that special, well-written article. It’s inspiring. It offers a refreshing perspective on life. But most of the time, you were just fine before reading it.

We need to live life on our own terms. One would think doing exactly what you want is easy, but it’s in fact a real battle when an excess of information is ‘guiding’ you in a series of other apparently ‘better’ directions.

Be your own self-help guide, and when that fails, call up a friend – most of the time, you’ll find out that you were only exaggerating to begin with and that your life, in truth, is just as it should be.