Bringing Back Casual Fridays
Posted by PRGirlz Alumni on June 19th, 2009
On behalf of PR Girlz I’d like to apologize for our month-long absence. Things have been quite busy around the TFC office and busy unfortunately turned into no time for PR Girlz posts. But PR Girlz is important and we’re going to make an effort to post even when we are busy. And busy is ultimately good since we have more experiences we can share with you!!
I decided for today’s post, as it is Friday, that I would go ahead and bring back “Casual Friday’s“. They used to be a more frequent occurrence on PR Girlz as way to ease into the weekend on a more lighthearted and not necessarily PR related way. On that note I bring you, Casual Friday!
I’m going to play devil’s advocate and talk about the potential downsides to social networking sites. So, I saw the e-card above a little while back and besides making me chuckle, it actually got me thinking. Now I love Facebook and Twitter as much as the next 20-something who lives at their computer. I love the fact that I can keep in touch with my friends and family through pictures, wall posts, and 140 character messages. It’s awesome. But, after seeing this e-card, I asked myself ”Could Facebook and Twitter actually be doing friendships and relationships more harm than good ?”
Facebook and Twitter give you the ability to see basically everything about what is going on in your friends lives without ever talking to them. Sometimes it’s easier to look at someone’s Facebook profile every now and then instead of actually keeping in touch. Sometimes it’s just easier to write your friend a quick wall-post instead of giving them a call.
Have you ever felt awkward seeing someone after a while and asking what they’ve been up to even though you already knew full well what they’d been up to because you have them on facebook and have obviously seen every single one of their status updates and photos? I have! Even with my closest friends, we are so connected online that when I actually see them in person I sometimes feel like we have nothing to talk about because we’ve already said it all!
Is it just me, or have we somewhat lost the ability to communicate in more traditional ways? Sometimes I find myself just looking at my own brothers facebook profiles or sending them a quick wall-post and convincing myself that I’m “keeping in touch” with them. And that sort of makes me sad. Communicating solely through a computer can only get you so far. It erases the human factor of communication. There are no expressions, emotions… no human voice.
At this point I think it’s important that I reiterate that I love Facebook and I love Twitter. I think they are excellent communication tools, especially if you are unable to see people face-to-face and I can’t really remember life before them. But I think it’s important, especially for us folks who spend 99% of our time “connected” to realize that communication through social networks is only one part of communication. It shouldn’t replace the face-to-face communication in our lives, it should be an addition to it. It’s easy to get excited and constantly post everything we’re doing or thinking while at the same time forgetting to actually step away for a little bit and live!
Do you think we’ve lost the ability to communicate in traditional ways? Do you feel like you spend too much time on social networking sites? Or am I way off base?
June 20th, 2009 » 5:31 pm
I have been thinking about this myself a lot lately! I even ranted to my housemate, who has zero interest in social media as a concept, for over an hour about how social media has made us a lazier society while at the same time allowing us to stay more closely connected. Certainly I think my generation will retain some of the pre-Facebook social skills we developed before the Internet consumed our lives, but what about the children of the future? I cringe every time I see someone under the age of 16 with a cell phone — it’s unnatural because it signals to me that while the next crop of human beings may be even more technologically savvy than myself and my peer group, they may be completely socially inept. What a tragedy! I love getting together for coffee dates and dinners with friends, but at my last get together I actually had to facilitate to the conversation between my high school friends because, despite having been friends for 4+ years, none of them seemed to know what to say to each other. I was completely horrified! I wish I had something more substantial to say, but thanks for posting this because it raised a lot of the same issues that have been on MY mind lately (to the point where I’m contemplating deleting my Twitter, which I never use anyway because I despise Twitter, and my Facebook account just to see who might actually make the effort to maintain my friendship sans technology).
June 20th, 2009 » 5:32 pm
P.S. I do realize the irony of posting said comment on a blog … and of having my OWN blog as well
June 22nd, 2009 » 8:02 am
Alexandra – I also realize the irony of writing my post on a blog… but I guess that’s part of the point I was trying to make.
You can’t disagree with the importance and relevance of social networking sites and social media in today’s society. And I doubt I could ever delete my Twitter or Facebook, I’d be lost without them!
BUT I just wanted to point out that sometimes I think that maybe we’re devoting a little too much of our attention to our online lives and forgetting about our lives outside the computer.
June 22nd, 2009 » 10:16 am
I agree with you (and that someecard you posted) to a certain extent. I really don’t think that social networking (or electronic communication) should replace face-to-face contact, but sometimes there just isn’t any other way. I work different hours than a lot of my friends, and in different parts of the city. Sometimes the only way to know what they are up to is by connecting with them online.
If it wasn’t for BlogCampaigning, my friend Jens and I probably wouldn’t be in touch anymore. He lives in Germany, I’m in Toronto and planning out blog posts is our way of keeping in touch – he’ll send me a draft on Facebook or via email (to edit is English), and it is an excuse to find out what the other is up to.
June 24th, 2009 » 3:54 pm
Last night I decided to call my best friend from highschool to wish her a happy birthday, and I never realized how awkward that could be until she picked up on the other end.
For the past five years or so we’ve been communicating strictly online (with long distance between us), and over the past two to three years our communication has been solely based through Facebook.
When she picked up the phone I soon realized I didn’t know what to say after the happy birthday part, and it seemed as though we were both struggling to ask questions about each other’s lives. It was no longer natural like it was in the 10th grade when we spent the day together and then talked for four hours on the phone every night after school to go over the days events and the newest highschool drama.
After this conversation, I can completely agree with you. Although communicating through social media has done wonders in our world, in many ways, we’ve lost touch with the most important source of communication; face to face (or in my case, I guess … voice to voice).
After this discovery I realized how much I missed hearing the comfort of an old friends voice. I think the appeal of Facebook as a communications source is that it seems easier, quicker, and more efficient to log on and send a message. We’ve become so busy and caught up in our own selves and lives that we don’t put out as much effort as we used to. I will now take the time to call or visit, because nobody should be looking for the quick way out when it comes to people you care about.
I’m taking it back old school with my personal relationships!
July 11th, 2009 » 7:02 pm
We are totally becoming inept when it comes to socializing in person. Why is it that studies show that the English language is diminishing? I am as guilty as the next person using short forms of words when texting, not to mention the mindless hours I spend on Facebook. I orginally used Facebook as a tool to “keep in touch” with family and friends that lived long distance. However, now it has turned into one of my main resources when “communicating” with friends and family that live in the same city.
I have been in situations where I have run into an acquaintance on the street and rather than completing our conversation right then and there have had the “Are you on Facebook, I’ll send you a message” conversation as we both walk away. I think having a coffee and a conversation should beat “tweeting” any day. Facebook, Twitter, texting is a necessary evil in some ways. But yet a wonderful indulgence.
We can’t move backwards in regards to technology, whether or not we choose to use it is another story. How far can we go back? Why bother to pay $0.50 for a postage stamp when you can spend less per minute texting what needs to be said.
July 13th, 2009 » 2:18 pm
I completely agree with this post. And I agree, I love social media as much as the next twenty-something PR grad, but I also recognize that it’s a tool and not a substitute for old fashioned conversation.
Cait is right – it does feel awkward to speak with an old frend after months – or in her case yeas – of chatting online.
I also think of the damage social media can cause on younger users. I have a 16 year-old cousin who is posting pictures of herself partying pratically topless, and all her friends pages contain the same reckless images and language. I’ve tried to speak to her, but she just doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation.
I miss the days when Facebook was just for college and university students and professionals. I understand it connects us all globally and can be a wonderful networking and marketing tool, but I still hesitate over the benefits for a younger user. I’m also concerned about an increase in cyber-bullying. I know it’s easy to block people from your Facebook, but by the time you do that, chances are the damage has already been done.
That being said, I know that social media is the way of the future and a great tool. But I wish there would some limits, some restrictions. Then I stop and think, dear God…I sound like my parents when ICQ and MSN first came out. Oh boy…
July 13th, 2009 » 4:10 pm
I agree and am curious to know how our ability to have personal relationships “in the flesh” will have been affected say ten years from now. I too enjoy the convenience of Facebook and such, particularly living long distance from many friends and family, however I find I also use it for friends whom live right around the corner from me. Virtually everything in our lives is on the verge of happening over the computer, except for human reproduction. There’s something “wrong” about this phenomenon that leaves me feeling worried, sad, and empty, regardless of how many “friends” and “followers” I have. I worry we will find ourselves a race of people whom are lost, disconnected, and socially stunted in face-to-face human relationships.