When did you last get FOMO? This phenomenon (fear of missing out) has become a social-media inflicted disease, infiltrating the central nervous system every time a party you weren’t at or a holiday you weren’t on crops up on your newsfeed.
This increasing obsession we have with other people’s online lives has finally been noticed and it doesn’t stop there. A recent YouTube video – ‘Look Up’ has gone viral, somewhat ironically, after Gary Turk took to the social networking site to urge people to put down their iPhones and log out of their accounts in order to focus on the world round them.
This 5 minute, spoken word film shows the possibilities that can occur when we look up from the pixels on our screens and, despite the slightly over-egged romance, Turk’s short film has a point that hits home.
‘Nomophobia’ – the fear of being without your mobile now affects 66%* of us and many people would simply not be able to function without having access to social media sites throughout the day. This need to be connected is overwhelming but can we blame this on social media? I’m not so sure.
As humans, we need interaction to survive. The breakdown of ‘normal’ communities however is at record high with 51%** of people admitting to not knowing their neighbours’ first name. Is it any surprise therefore that people are turning to other communities – the online community – as an alternative place of interaction?
Many may consider social media to be an over-whelming machine, but if we take a step back we can use these sites for good. So be it online or offline let’s start a conversation and get social.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY
* Daily Mail
** The Independent