The Culture Shift

We are in an age where culture is transforming almost constantly.  Just as quickly as we got used to the floppy disk we invented hard drives.  Walkmans were replaced with Ipods, jobs started becoming remote, and we now have access to more information than we have ever had in the history of humanity.  How?  Because we are more connected than ever before.  Enter social media.  As much as it is demonized through clever memes and viral videos, it does have its benefits.  By the end of this post you will be a proponent of this culture-defining medium that has everyone talking. Or, posting, rather.

I was born in an analog age, where phones were hooked up to walls by chords, and letters arrived in our mailbox.  Just the other day I was reminiscing about the feeling of opening up my mailbox to find a handwritten letter from an old friend.  This was a frequent occurrence during the summer of 1993 when I moved to Florida from Canada.  Reading letters from my friends helped me adapt to my new environment.

But these weren’t just letters.  These were expressions of our friendship.  For example, each one of my friends had their own unique handwriting, which I could recognize a mile away.  Not really, but you get the idea.  Also, never would I receive just a letter.  Sometimes my friends would include stickers and cut outs from magazines of cute outfits and celebrities we liked.  Basically, the letter was a complete experience that connected me so personally to the one who sent it.

Embrace The Power

I bring up the concept of the letter to show you how much I valued the communication culture of yesteryear.  This, however, does not stop me from embracing what has us all staring into our phones now.  Like with everything in life, if we don’t adapt to inevitable change, we are bound to experience stress.  When social media first reared its head it was thrilling.  I could finally connect with family and friends in other parts of the world in a new dimension.  Being able to express pieces of me was somewhat cathartic.  I was not only exposing myself to the world, but also to myself.  Users have tapped into behaviors in their personalities that they may have never known existed thanks to social media.  Still, there is so much more to this medium.  Social media has shifted power into the hands of the average person.

Twenty years ago we got our ‘news’ from limited sources.  For example, the local newspaper or the nightly news.  We had little choice but to believe everything we were presented, and formed opinions/took action based on it.  It was all too easy for the media to influence the masses through information they broadcasted.  We were, effectively, stuck.  We have come a long way since then.  Facebook alone is used as a primary news source by many who once relied on TV and newspapers.  In fact, it has spawned the production of several new, unconventional, media outlets.  Huffington Post, for example, enjoys immense success because its writers are actual people.  They are not trained professionals forced to follow the culture of the establishment.  They are you and I.

Be The Change

What does this mean?  It means that you can write, record, or photograph something, and make an impact.  Instead of simply ingesting information, you can contribute to it.  You have a voice, and now you have the audience to listen to it.  This is empowering.  We are slowly moving away from conventional news sources and looking to one another for information.  That information is sparking movements.  For example, Black Lives Matter.  This would not have become what it is had videos and stories not been shared through social media.

What we are now discovering is that traditional media has failed us.  It has failed to uncover reality while continuing to paralyze us in a state of fear.  Do we see disturbing news through social media?  Yes.  But we also see the beauty of daily life.  There is a balance to everything.  Social media enables us to see that.

The next time you shy away from scrolling your Instagram feed in public, or feel that you need to freeze your Facebook account, think about these things.  The good things.  Craft healthy behaviors that help you become a positive part of the social media landscape.  When the world gets chaotic we have a choice to make:  run away from it and pretend it doesn’t exist, or face it and work to improve it.  Social media gives you that power.