Social Networks Reshaping Communication

No Free Time Without Social Networks

The rise of social networks has helped us exchange more information than ever before! But how do these possibilities affect private and public life?

Social networks are internet-based programs to connect with other people: friends, relatives, colleagues, or teammates. Those social networks are reshaping our communication on different levels. They can make both private and public life easier but also have negative effects. We’ll take a closer look at the different aspects of daily life.

Social Networks and Long-Distance Relationships

Long-distance relationships are a fact of modern working life. In a long-distance relationship, we might only be able to spend time together over the weekend. So during the week, social networks with their messengers and video chats make the organization of life together easier.

Various apps and games enrich the joint activities. This is acceptable for the exchange of information and nice words, but we miss the everyday tenderness of daily life moments.  We might only be able to share beautiful moments two days a week in person. On the other hand, the waiting time increases the anticipation of seeing each other again.

Limited time together could make a common breakfast, or cuddling together more intense. However, there are things that a messenger cannot show in a long-distance relationship. All the little quirks and spleens that otherwise become visible and annoying over time. All the banal qualities of a person remain secrets, even though you are in a partnership.

Social Networks: Public Life vs. Mobile Life

The secrets of public life, on the other hand, are quite different. Smartphones and social platforms are the best investigative devices. Thanks to them, everyone can participate in any situation at any time. So events from foreign continents move into our immediate sphere of perception.

Social networks, therefore, vie for the attention of followers. Direct experience steps into the background and others’ reactions determine your own actions. The image of ourselves we create in our online profiles is our desired image.

Maintaining this wishful thinking takes more and more time so that the “real” world seems to become secondary. Meanwhile, this is getting to a point where there is even a portmanteau for it: Phubbing, a combination of phone and snubbing. It is just rude to pick up a smartphone in a conversation or while having dinner in a restaurant. In a relationship, such behavior can endanger the partnership or even your whole family in the long run.

Social Media and the Lack of Free Time

Since smartphones and social networks have come into being, it’s harder to be completely bored. Technology has simply swallowed up the waiting times of the past. The different possibilities are almost limitless. A little game between friends while waiting for the subway is just as much a part of it as the meditation app during lunch break. WhatsApp, Soundcloud, Facebook, YouTube, AmazonPrime, Instagram, Netflix, Shopping, everything mobile and always available. The offer is so varied that one can be stressed and overtaxed by the oversupply. Then you can try either a relaxation app or an entertainment stream.

Social Networks and the Ambivalence of Technology

On the one hand, technology and social networks reduce global distances, but in everyday life, they can increase the distance between people. Even people in the same house communicate via mobile and stationary devices. So we can see that technology is increasingly influencing the way we interact with each other. The question here is not whether we like it or not, but how we help to shape it. Because total renunciation is not an option!

That’s why social platforms like FamilyApp can be so helpful for communication. Instead of tearing us apart, FamilyApp’s message board, activity finder, and shared family calendars help to strengthen those relationships. Download it today to see how you can use a social network to improve your virtual conversations and enhance your everyday life.

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