catch 22 of social media

Dear Miss Stephanie Rosenbloom,

      I truly enjoyed reading your article about your stance on the notion of social media in today's society. I agreed with many of the crucial points you've made. I found the part on Mr. Kaufman limiting his social media use to less than 30 minutes each morning and taking advantage of the application Freedom to block the Internet for up to eight hours very relevant to my own experience because my dad made my homepage to www.cnn.com so I would not immediately open up facebook.com or perezhilton.com and be motivated to read real news because it would be staring at me right in my face every time I opened up a browser. I think this application would be so beneficial to Internet users who want to restrict themselves from committing so much time to social networking sites.

      I also can relate to Graham Hill's opinion on face-to-face interactions when he said, “I like to spend the time with someone in a restaurant than spend the time on Foursquare telling people I'm in the restaurant.” When I went home this past winter break and tried to reconnect with friends from high school, it seemed like those whom I haven't spoken to already knew what was going on in my life or I already knew what was going on in theirs, like who already dropped out of college, who studied abroad this semester, who got engaged or married, or who got a full-time job at which company. This creepy knowledge almost doesn't allow for the need for face-to-face interaction because we know so much about what is going on in other people's lives. And it becomes stalker-ish when you realize you have all this knowledge, but it's because it is so accessible. I feel like nowadays, rather than asking for one's number, the more modern question is, do you have a Facebook account or can I follow you on Twitter. And it's sad to think that if we do not check our social networking sites for more than a day or two, we feel like we are missing out on such a chunk of knowledge and news going on in society.

      All I can say about the social media is that it is a complete Catch-22: it is a great tool for meeting new people and making useful connections, but it shouldn't be something that consumes one's identity and life. Thank you for your article.

Sincerely,

Clara Min