The more we get together
The happier we’ll be
Cause your friends are my friends
And my friends are your friends
The more we get together
The happier we’ll be….

Or at least that’s how the song goes! Is it really true?

Figure 1: How was your day? (Source: Gadetultra 2014, August 4).

Social Connection

The term ‘Nomophobia‘ is a term used for the fear of losing your cell phone, derived from “no-mobile-phone phobia,” it is a real and existing fear.  We have become a society that has a phone extension at the end of our arm. Studies have found more than half of people with cellphones never turn them off and one in five people would rather go without shoes for a week rather than take a break from their phone, you can read more about it here, here and even here.  If after reading that you are worried and wonder if you have this disorder you can test yourself here: http://www.nomophobia.com

What does this really mean?

Well, let me explain it this way, social media has a lot of positives for businesses and consumers it is all about social connection, however, we have let it engulf our lives and the social impact and change is huge.

Figure 2: Time spent on social networking sites. (Source: Global Web Index 2015, January  26).

So if you are spending 2 hours a day on social media platforms what are you missing from your physical life? Part of the reason users use social media is to keep up with social ties, they have closer relationships, they see more ‘support’ from their Facebook friends than their cohorts at times. It revives dormant relationships and allows for the user to have a voice. We spend time in ‘virtual worlds’ where we can be who we want, we can change how the world sees us and step into a new reality.

[1] Facebook users are more trusting than others.
We asked people if they felt “that most people can be trusted.” When we used regression analysis to control for demographic factors, we found that the typical internet user is more than twice as likely as others to feel that people can be trusted. Further, we found that Facebook users are even more likely to be trusting. We used regression analysis to control for other factors and found that a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43% more likely than other internet users and more than three times as likely as non-internet users to feel that most people can be trusted

So  found we can collaborate and add our voice and knowledge with projects like Wikipedia, blogs and add to content communities such as YouTube, Slideshare etc. Our voice can be connected and  heard on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Businesses speak to us through social networking sites and create blogs so we can hear their side of the story. We trust more because we use social networking sites but are we any happier since Web 2.0 changed our world?

Figure 3: Life was much easier. (Source: Gadetultra 2014, August 4).

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References

[1] Hampton, Keith. (2011, June 16 ). Social networking sites and our lives.  Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/06/16/social-networking-sites-and-our-lives/

Image Sources

How was your day? (2014, August 4). [Image]. Retrieved from http://gadgetultra.com/nomophobia/

Time spent on social networking sites. (2015, January  26). [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/daily-time-spent-on-social-networks-rises-to-1-72-hours

Life was much easier.  (2014, August 4). [Image]. Retrieved from http://gadgetultra.com/nomophobia/