A woman in the Philippines and a woman in the United Kingdom being Facebook friends. A mom in San Diego shares fun DIY projects to her followers on Twitter. A guy in Australia teaches others to play guitar through his YouTube videos. A woman who quilts in New York City pins her helpful hints in Pinterest to share with quilters across the globe. These are all common uses of social media but is social media our friend or foe?
Ten years ago I never imagined that I would be using social media to communicate with people from all over the world. I love checking out the WordPress stats to see who and what countries have viewed my websites. People from the Philippines, United Kingdom, New Zealand and others have all clicked on my websites and for that brief time we were connected making this huge world of ours just a little bit smaller.
I love sharing pins on Pinterest about cats, camping and romance among other topics. I love tweeting with people in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia about mutual interests. My Facebook friends, again from all across the globe, have all supported me through the long process of getting my first book published. I believe social media to be my friend, connecting me to others with whom I would not have normally met due to distance.
However, my mother sees social media as a foe. She says it takes away the personalization (my word) of our communications. People don’t pick up the phone to “talk” to someone, they just text them. People don’t send personal notes through the mail (snail mail) any more, they email instead. And her pet peeve is how much time people, especially kids, spend online.
My son and I rock climbing.
Although I do like to get snail mail and I do agree that many people spend too much time online and not out enjoying nature or life – I still think our online communications are a blessing and a friend.
The Internet has brought me all of you as new friends 🙂
What do you think? Social Media: friend or foe?
If you’d like to connect with me some more:
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Diane's Writing Life 
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