Social Media - It gives me a real big headache if I'm honest!!!

Ok... so I recently started up a twitter account, and after following just 50 people, I soon found my home page getting full up with lots of different people all sharing lots of different opinions, all at the same time. And that's just with 50 people lucky enough to have me follow them - what would you do if you followed 100's, as many "twits" are doing these days? How are you meant to keep up with everyone you are following - and do you really care what they are all saying?

It's hard enough trying to follow a big discussion on here sometimes - but imagine if you had 50 people on this discussion all talking about different things... it would drive you nuts wouldn't it?! Or if you had 50 people all talking at you in a room... again, it would drive you mad wouldn't it?!

And then there's facebook - the place where you get to have 100's of friends who you don't really know, and don't really care about - unless you run a business however, and want them to buy something from you; and then of course you care about them a lot!

My point is this - if you wouldn't do it in real life, why do it online? A form of escapism it may be - but is life that dull that we all need to hide away on our computers all day long? I personally hate being stuck at my desk on this damn thing - put me in a room full of interesting people whom I'd love to find out more about - and that's my idea of being "social".

Our children could end up facing new issues when they grow up -

Poor eyesight caused by screen glare,

A lack of any real social skills due to having too many "virtual" relationships instead of good old personal ones,

Increased obesity due to spending more time sat at home on their computers (not to mention all the back problems that come from sitting down for too long),

And to add to that, a rise in Repetitive Strain Injuries - particularly in the thumbs from all the texting and mobile internet use!

Hmmm... Social Media could be giving rise to an evolution alright- A new race of arthritic, short sighted, verbally challenged, over weight, hunchbacked human beings!

And before you shoot me down for sounding like I'm against Social Media... I certainly am not that way inclined... I just believe that it is starting to take over the lives of the younger generation in a very unhealthy way. It's great in small doses - but many of us are spending too much time at the computer as it is... and it's all becoming far too hectic. With soooo many different social media platforms to use, I can see people calling for their brains to be hooked up to their computers in the future, as their fingers will become nothing more than short little stumps from all that endless typing! Either that, or they simply become to lazy to even be bothered to type - kids want everything on a plate these days, it all has to be faster and simpler. Writing a letter and putting it in the post would seem like living in the stone age to them - and you can forget taking a trip across town to go and visit friends or family - they've got skype now, and it's even on mobiles - no need to travel anywhere!

Give it a break people - get out in the fresh air (well, depending on where you live) - and meet each other in person. Laugh, have fun, feel alive - and you can even tease each other in real life rather than hiding behind rude comments on your computer screen... you may get a punch in the face, but at least that will teach you not to be such an idiot sometimes!

I know what I'd prefer anyway.

Keep it real people.

"We hold our destinies in our hands – so let's make our dreams become reality!"

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sean O'Donoghue on March 23, 2011 at 2:23pm

Haha...

look on ebay Sandra, there are plenty of them on there, along with the TV remotes. As for the "Golden Years" ... god, what a prime example of euphemisms gone crazy in a politically correct world! From where I'm standing, once you go over 60 - things don't look very "Golden" to me - unless you are someone like Donald Trump... but that's only from a wealth perspective.

My next discussion will be on euphemisms actually - and "recruitment" is a prime one - but you've already covered that very well indeed Sandra.

Plenty left still... And boy will I have fun taking them all apart, especially in the recruiting industry! :-) For now... Social Media is my prime target - and I'm sure we can deconstruct that a hell of a lot more. Ironically, I could tweet about this discussion, and post links to it all over the other social networks - which is what a "guru" would tell you to do in order to raise "brand awareness". Total bull - and in regards to your upcoming discussion on "Brand protection" Sandra, I suggest you look at personal brands as well. In my opinion, unless you are Michael Jordan, David Beckham, or someone in their league - you certainly do NOT have a personal brand. If I had a personal brand, I'd start selling t-shirts, aftershave, and all the other crap these celebs are putting out there...

Personal branding - another euphemism which gives most people a false idea that they can have a brand just like all their favorite celebs.... "Just (don't) Do It" !!!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on March 23, 2011 at 3:00pm

I got into a heated discussion with some kid who was all worried about his personal brand. I suggested to him that the only brand he had was his name and the rest of it was reputation which takes time to build and maintain. He went nuts until i asked him what would happen if he thought he had built a personal brand and somebody came along with the same name. I will treasure that look forever. You are correct in my opinion. The only personal brand i can see that any of us have is the identifier of our name. If another person comes along named Sandra McCartt who wears a black hat and is a recruiter my "Personal brand" is lost in a sea of confusion. And i would sure sound like an idiot if i started making noise that somebody had stolen my "personal brand". Aint' many of us who are that important. Just another detour from reality spawned by the narcissism of social media in my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on March 23, 2011 at 3:02pm

Oh, and i am the only person in the world who thinks it's hilarious to see twitter names that say, "RealJohnSmith" Now there is a personal brand for you. There may be 50 John Smiths but see i am the real one on twitter. arrrrgggghhh.

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Permalink Reply by Ronald on March 23, 2011 at 3:03pm

I have not read all the posts, but the thing that I think about too is all the lost work hours due to this stuff. I have a 26 year old recruiter working for me. His mouse is on the right side of his computer, phone on the left. With facebook, twitter, and texts coming in all day, it is amazing he gets anything done.

I need to have a conversation with him, but have not gotten the gumption yet!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on March 23, 2011 at 3:45pm

Hospitals are cutting off access to social media due to concerns that hospital employess even the docs will tweet or post something that will violate a patient confidentiality HIPPA. It's already happened when the employee thought that if they didn't use a name it was not a problem. Unfortunately the patients family was following the doc on twitter and filed a lawsuit. Also a doc now suing the son of a patient over defamation tweets and facebook postings about his bedside manner.

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Permalink Reply by Sean O'Donoghue on March 23, 2011 at 3:58pm

Good point Ronald... I remember when facebook first started coming into the arena - my old bosses would go mad if they saw anyone on there... so much so, they banned the site altogether - along with msn messenger, myspace and youtube. Just like what happened back then, a lot of the younger folks are wasting so much time on social media sites just chatting to their friends about how bored they are at work and so on... instead of doing any real work at all.

They are getting away with it a lot more now because it's seen as acceptable to be on social networking sites whilst at work - and it's extremely hard for bosses to tell whether their employees are getting any real value (making money) from their time on social media - or just using as a way of getting through the day without having to do too much at all in the way of real work.

It's all quite funny though - literally 10 mins ago there was a big piece on a UK chat show all about Twitter and how it's becoming so mainstream. You could literally tell that the bosses of twitter wrote the piece, and are still trying to flaunt it as something new - keeping it in the spot light. However, all they focused on was the fact that Barack Obama now uses it, the Queen uses it, and so does the Prime minister of England. Well horrah ... now our we can sit and watch what our leaders give us a running commentary about what they are doing every 5mins too...

"One just took a trip to the bathroom, where one found that one's butler forgot to leave rose petals on the toilet seat. Awwwff with his head!"

Oh... and they also did a piece about the fact that more and more people are now getting sued due to posting tweets which can be seen as libel against those in the spotlight. Apparently we all have to be careful about what we are saying online, and who we are talking about, because "1000's" of people could soon come to hear about it. Come on now - since when did "sticks and stones may break my bones...." stop being relevant??

"Oh no, that person has called me a terrible name, I'm sooooo offended, and I must now sue their ass for doing that to me!"

So what... you're offended - get over it!

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Permalink Reply by Mat von Kroeker on March 25, 2011 at 6:22pm

I just got on Facebook and Twitter recently--- and found most, if not ALL of my friends on FB and Twit are insecure, maniacal, inane babblers. I would have rather not known that about them.

And social media has completely turned me against cats in general.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on March 25, 2011 at 6:51pm

Mat, the cat comment has made me laugh harder than i have laughed in a week. Where did people get all these pictures of cats and why do they send and post them?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy McGarry on March 31, 2011 at 3:30pm

I would have to agree that all these comments have made me laugh harder than I have in a week! Awesome thread. I do agree that social media has it's place and I feel as though kids are growing up without social skills. I'm not sure it's any different from playing Xbox or watching TV all day long. As for information speed, I applaud technology for creating the world we currently live in. If you don't like it- don't tune in. People do it 'online' because there are too many introverts in the world who may lack personality traits to do it in person.

Sean as you said "Give it a break people - get out in the fresh air (well, depending on where you live) - and meet each other in person. Laugh, have fun, feel alive - and you can even tease each other in real life rather than hiding behind rude comments on your computer screen... you may get a punch in the face, but at least that will teach you not to be such an idiot sometimes!"

you might be interested to know that San Loui Obisbo (sp?) was voted the 'happiest' place on earth because they all know their neighbors. And that Oprah contested from a study that you are measurably happier if you join a social club and show up even once a month.

Maybe we are creating a society of "arthritic, short sighted, verbally challenged, over weight, hunchbacked human beings" who are also extremely UNHAPPY?

I agree - time for more face to face time. That's why I changed the way I did recruiting. (I will admit to having a crackberry, an ipad and being an avid texter facebooker and tweeter Haha!!)

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Permalink Reply by Sean O'Donoghue on March 31, 2011 at 5:13pm

Nancy... A Crackberry? Wow... that's a good one, I've not heard that before! hahaha... and I can see where the name comes from too!

Do you live in San Loui Obisbo then Nancy? If so... what are you doing on here? You should be attending one of those social clubs instead, surely? And yeah - I think spending too much time on computers rather than face to face is making people unhappy.

Maybe that's what's wrong with the world? It's certainly proven that kids who spend more time playing violent games are becoming desensitised to the outside world; so when they see an act of violence in real life, or on the TV – they show less of an emotional reaction. Kids are becoming worryingly separated from real life, almost like they are living in a dream. When you add to that all of the crap that goes into the food they eat, and soda’s they drink – it’s a sorry state of play indeed!

Anyway, that’s much bigger stuff, outside of general recruitment topics... not sure if you all need me standing on my soapbox preaching about how much of a mess our countries (UK and USA) are in right now. However... the way our world is going most certainly does have an indirect impact on our industry.... and one big issue I’m worried about is this...

How the hell am I going to be able to place an arthritic, short sighted, verbally challenged, overweight, hunchbacked human being; who is also extremely unhappy, with the attention span of a flea, and the emotional capacity of a 2 year old ???

Imagine presenting someone like that to a client? Although... the client may well be of the same character, if they are young enough... and then what? I’d give my desk over to my pet monkey to manage for me...they’d probably do a better job!

PS. The monkey would be placed on the payroll, they would have employee rights, and would be entitled to full holiday and sickness pay. I’m an equal rights employer after all!