Social Media: Does it bring us together, or pull us apart?

I know I will get the angriest comments about this post than anything I have, or will say. However, this topic has been ignored by many people, but it has to be addressed.


First, I will say why people will get angry. Social media has gotten a following similar to that of a religious cult. The followers of this technological cult have been brainwashed by it and are now in its grasp. These followers are also dedicated to making sure their techno church survives and prospers, and they will sacrifice their family and friends to ensure that success. If anyone makes a derogatory comment against the computer guru who leads them, they will consider it a personal attack on themselves and that person is now the enemy.

You think I am joking? I am not.

People have been addicted to social media, to the point where their interaction with flesh and blood people is now limited. These technologic devises have now become segregate voices for these people. Since they now lack social skills, these devises have been a crutch for their lack of interpersonal skills. Every day, they use the devices more and more, which causes them to become even more emotional isolated. Being emotionally isolated is the step where a religious cult begins its indoctrination.

We now expect technology to do our social networking for us. We have sites, which recommend people whom we should be friends with, people who are similar to us. We have buttons that say if we like something, instead of telling the person directly.

We are isolating ourselves to groups of people who think and feel the same why we do; this is not the human experience. We need to be challenged to the way other people think, to be friends with people who are completely different, this is how we expand, and this is how we develop into a more whole individual. It is the interaction with people who think differently from us, which makes us test the way we think, and it is in that testing that opens us to new ideas and concepts.

Religious cults also like to isolate their members, making them only accessible to those who think like they do.

I believe the effect of the technological cult is already having an impact, not just on us personally, but also on us socially and politically. Look at shows or events, they are not judged on their merit, they are judged on the small comments made on twitter about that show or event is perceived. Look at our political system; it is no longer a give and take system, a model of people working together for the good of the whole. Politicians have so fragmented themselves into sects, and there common cause is that it now is “our way” and we will condemn and destroy you if you think differently than us. Look at some of these fanatic political parties and tell me they are not like a cult.

So now if this is occurring, what can do to stop it? Just do less with technology and more with you as a person and this is what scares them the most. We live behind, hide behind our cult devices. They are our shields that protect us, and this allows us to be less compassionate to others, and more brazen. People use the opportunity in social media to make insulting comments, comments they would not dare to say to someone else’s face. This is so rampant that people now think anything they say on the online somehow does not matter for they hide behind the shield of the internet.

It is also an instant way for people to get their 15 minutes of fame, without even working for it. People think if they post something, that somehow the internet has validated them, has given them glory and fame, it makes them feel important. This is a false sense of self-gratification, for all you have done was to write a couple words on a keypad, like millions of others did.

Many of these technological cults are like members of other cults. They have no sense of who they are, they lake a moral compass, and are looking for something to accept. These poor individuals are pulled into the social media like as in any cult; the cult gives them an identity, a purpose and a goal. These people feel like they belong to and are a part of something bigger.

So what can we do to stop the leviathan of the social media cult? As I said earlier, just do less with it. Call for a pizza, instead of ordering it online, talk to the human being on the phone. If you see something on the internet, it does not mean you have to comment on it. Seek out someone who is different than you, and TALK to them, find out what kind of person they are. Go and look at real cats and see how cute they are instead of watching them meow online. Mostly act like we all should, as a human being, someone who talks to others in person, someone who likes and dislikes things based on who they are, not what reviews are posted somewhere.

If you want some sobering facts here they are. The average attention span of people in 2013 is 8 seconds a decrease of 4 seconds from 2000. The attentions span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. I am ashamed that the human race has an attention span less than that of a fish kept in a bowl.Maybe the bowl we are stuck in is the internet and social media.

Our future as human beings is up to us, all of us. Are we going to go down the road where each year our attention span gets less and less, or are we going to challenge ourselves, to drive ourselves, and evolve? If there is to be a change to our future, people need to interact with people, not social media sites.