Social networking defines the culture of our generation

By eas11, November 5, 2014

By Deanna Lee, Staff Writer //

We live in a society that runs on technology and that has opened so many doors for advertisement, spreading messages and just overall spanning content out to a larger population with minimal effort. The World Wide Web made this possible, being the great tool it is, but people began to think that they could connect through the web with people all over the place. Nowadays, the internet is mainly used for social networking, which prompts the question; do you exist without a social network? With everyone communicating through screens more than they do in person, not having any type of social network can almost erase you from existence.

One of the main ways that people meet in our generation is through the Internet. Everyone has those Facebook friends that they either have never met or they see in person but never talk to. It would be awkward if you went up to them and said, “Hey, I know you from Facebook.” People would think you are creepy. Yet when you make a friend and you learn their name or some other identifying characteristic, you almost immediately seek them out on social media platforms. I’ve personally found myself asking someone their first and last name just to find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Finding someone online enables you to peek into his or her life from afar. It’s often easier to look at the things they put up on their walls instead of learning about them gradually.

You find out so much about a person by their social networks. Sometimes it can border on creepy, but people do it more often than really talking to the person. Sometimes though, this rare thing happens; they don’t have a social network at all. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, not even a Myspace. And you ask, “Who is this person? Why don’t they have a Facebook? How am I supposed to get to know them without this life cheat code? They are totally sketch.” That’s all social networking has become in my opinion; a wide-open window for you to lean in and learn about a person without actually directly communicating with them. That’s socially cheating and it makes things awkward in person.

Social networks are now the base of how people get to know one another, and if you don’t have that base, there is no way to build up from there. Without a social network, no one can dip into your past through statuses or see what you ate for lunch yesterday. Your social network can sometimes define who you are, not because it’s your profile, but because when people look you up, they are judging you based on what you’ve put up there. If you don’t have a Twitter, Facebook, etc., the effort to put forth to get to know the basics about someone is just no longer desirable and therefore you become somewhat invisible. So, do you exist without a social network?