For better or worse, social media is here to stay

The giant bird down at Elizabeth Quay

Let’s face it – social media can be a boon for both business and our personal life.

It allows us to keep in touch with relatives and friends living many miles away, and also to promote our business to people across the globe or in your backyard.

However, there is a catch.

A voracious animal that is never satisfied, social media can also be highly addictive.

In order to be fully engaged with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Google+, we need to literally, carry it with us at all times.

For example, I went to Elizabeth Quay – the flashy new Liberal-inspired development in the Perth CBD – for the first time the other night.

Sure it was impressive and will hopefully raise Perth’s profile enough to bring in some much-needed extra tourist dollars.

However, while I was there I noticed a huge proliferation of hand-held phones and tablets among the throng – something I hadn’t seen in such quantities in one place before.

Of course, everyone was recording the occasion on their smart phones and in many cases, submitting these photos and posts straight to social media.

I myself submitted a photo to my Instagram account this morning, which has already received several likes.

Perhaps no surprise here – however it does underline a point I have been thinking about for quite a while.

Is it not perhaps a worry that as social media becomes more and more prolific, there are a number of people who may actually become literally addicted or obsessed with the medium?

This is not only possible but also I believe, probable.

Already I see people all the time who in regards to social media and the Internet in general, are well on the way to becoming obsessive.

Take FaceBook as an example.

How many people reading this article would admit to checking their email or Facebook accounts on their smartphones at least once every five minutes?

Well if you do, you are a candidate!

The weird thing is that most people’s days are already filled to the brim with things to do – whether it is family, friends, work, hobbies, sport or many other commitments.

So how do we find the time for all this engagement with social media?

The answer is we simply make the time, whether we have it or not.

To combat this, I have a suggestion.

Force Apple, Samsung and others to put health warnings on their mobile phones and tablets.

The warnings could advise users to compulsorily have ‘screen-free’ periods of at least two hours per day, as an example.

This would be a time when all screens were switched off for at least two hours during the day, allowing at least some respite from the constant ‘information overload’.

We could take a much-needed ‘breather’, and reflect on how life used to be, before this constant torrent of information became so ingrained in our everyday lives.

It might even give some of us the opportunity to spend ‘quality time’ reading a book (made of dead trees, not a Kindle), or even kicking a football down at the park!