Social Media and a world of meaningless interactions has you hooked
Building Real Connections, Real Experiences in an inane social media world
From the team at boog.app
Ever wondered whether your social media new feed — like the pics of what Joe consumed for breakfast and Nina making sand angels on the beach — is actually social at all? How can it be; most probably we had no real part in it. Feelings of ambivalence, indifference, maybe envy, and almost always a sense of disconnection. That’s how it all started anyway. Maybe there’s a Joe or Nina in your life? Maybe those feelings are familiar? If so, you’re most certainly not alone. Studies into social media and their effect on mental wellbeing have been mixed. What is becoming increasingly clear (the experts tell us) is that individual experiences can be extremely different — determined somewhat by the personality type of the individuals interacting and nature of the interaction itself. But the evidence is that for many of us, social media is leaving us feeling isolated and depressed, and is doing more harm than good for our mental wellbeing. Our addiction to social media content that’s more often than not superfluous in our lives and void of meaningful engagement and real relationships have a lot to do with it. [1][2][3]
If you were born human, you’ll think like a human. It’s not your fault
As you scroll through your best friend’s holiday exploits are you sharing in their enjoyment? Probably not. I guess it won’t instinctively make you feel good either. You had little choice but to “Like” that photo, because that’s what it takes to be a good friend these days — that right, isn’t it? And even though your social media interactions might sometimes leave you feeling somewhat isolated or gloomy, your overriding desire to be socially connected — with friends, family and work colleagues — keeps you coming back. Sounding familiar? It’s not coincidence you’re behaving like this. It’s certainly not your fault. It’s a product of “good” design. A beautiful plan — you might say — hatched by product designers to make us behave the way we do; to form addictive, compulsive habits that lead us to invest our time, resources and money in their products. [9]
Real relationships grow from real experiences
The same can be said for platforms and products that have been designed to build following. Maybe you recognise the compulsion to add new connections and how this makes you feel — it feels good! We want to feel that we belong, that we are valued, that we have something to say. Yet more often than not, we add new connections to include people in the absence of any real relationships. This is behaviour we’ve formed, but who does it serve? Is it worth our while? Whether you are selling products, seeking career advancement or promoting your personal brand, the answer is almost certainly NO. Can you ever really belong to a community of people whom you’ve never met or shared a real life experience with? Probably not. Can a community of people ever truly exist without authentic, real world experience and meaningful engagement? Probably not. The reality is that the people who are most likely to help you, value your ideas, be your friend, be your partner or be your colleague are almost always those people with whom you’ve shared real experiences with. [10]
Building meaningful engagement in a digital world.
The jury is out on social media and mental health. But what is glowingly obvious, we think, is the absence of meaning in our social media lives and the harm this is having on our wellbeing. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to build real connections and real experiences. We’ve made that our mission in boog — https://boog.app.
Show us your appreciation for Joe, Nina and the inane world of social media by keeping in touch with us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/boog-101289311694489
References
[1] http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30016-8/fulltext
[2] http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=digit2015
[3] https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/press-portal/nachrichten-en/archive/nr1301/nr_130121_00
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19366318/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21329447/
[7] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-016-9808-z
[8] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2013148
[9] Hooked, How to Build Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal
[10] Building Brand Communities, How organisations succeed by creating belonging
