This was the end of a comment posted by "Javier" after the first blog posted. I felt it was a powerful enough comment that it warranted not only a response but an entire article focused on the idea. It is a question I've been thinking about for quite a while...is social media turning us even more selfish then we already tend to be or is it the other way around? I have a very easy time saying yes- it absolutely guides us toward caring more and more about ourselves- what we're saying, how we're saying it and who is listening.
Success Coach Jayson Krause, shed his life of the overbearing world we've come to know as Facebook in a crushing blog you can find here. It's definitely a unique perspective on what social media meant to him.
Another interesting example of social media turning us even more self-absorbed is Nate Freeman's New York Observer piece "Sexless and the City". It's a pretty interesting take on how young people today seem to be more concerned about what will be on Facebook the next day then they are of actually having a good time when they are out and about on the town.
Both of those are differing examples of how our society is changing due to constantly having to look at ourselves and our own actions...becoming more and more wary and concerned about how what we're doing is being perceived by others. Social media vanity is a brand new phenomenon that is sure to paint the landscape for at least the next few years until another internet fad is established.
Conversely though, I see the use of social media in a non-selfish way more and more. How can something be selfish when it allows us to see into parts of the world, in real-time, that were just a couple of years ago only accessible by CNN or the BBC? When I can post a question about how the rest of the world feels about America's actions in Libya and receive answers from Ireland and Australia within minutes...isn't that use the antithesis of selfish? Isn't opening ourselves up to more and more opinions, especially from complete strangers, the opposite of selfish behavior? Yet at the same time...the fact that we can ask a question and have it answered immediately by complete strangers just another form of social media vanity in and of itself? Because how would you feel if no one answered?
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