This week at Harper Morgan English we’re unplugging. This Vanity Fair [1] article talks about Kendall Jenner deleting her Instagram account. Jenner, who is the owner of the most liked Instagram picture ever, says she feels that removing her social media lets her live in the moment more.
As a movement, unplugging has been around since the beginning of our internet dependence. At this time in particular, unplugging seems to be a wise thing to do. From our experience, our social networks are full of inflammatory comments and articles about politics worldwide. So maybe now is the best time to unplug. The news cycle will continue with stories of political outrage, civil unrest and celebrity irrelevance till enough people stop reading, so maybe now is the best time to unplug?
Furthermore, we are subject to so much of the same negativity that after a while we stop caring. Apathy is terrible thing for a population to feel because if we are unable to connect with people on a human level, what hope is there left? Additionally, apathy leads to inaction – we are becoming so desensitised to what we see in the media and online, the once poignant message becomes run of the mill. Boring. Lost.
Jenner argues that by unplugging from her social media persona, she is no longer dominated by the need to find the next Instagram post or preoccupied how many retweets she has. However, we have to ask ourselves, are these kinds of interactions on social media less meaningful than those in real life? The social media-savvy out there will undoubtedly argue otherwise, however, what do you think?
Here are some questions for you to consider;
Do you feel that you could benefit from an ‘online detox’? Have you ever had the experience of talking to someone, only to have the conversation abruptly interrupted by the person checking their phone? Do you consider this to be rude or is this an inevitable consequence of technological development? Are the pre-internet social norms still applicable today or are those who disapprove of such behaviours social dinosaurs, who need to readdress what they consider polite or acceptable to embrace these technological changes?
Is it ever really possible to unplug? And if we do so, does this lead to something equally dangerous, ignorance?
We’re always interested in hearing what you think but we’ll understand if you need to get away from your phone for a little while. Comment, share and join the conversation!
[1] B2 read here
