One feature that will surely define this era is the creation and proliferation of the internet.
And within this transformative new technology, still in it’s infant stages, is the most widely adopted new communication platform in history: social media.
If companies like Google, Facebook and SpaceX reach their goals, soon we’ll have the entire human population with access to online social networks.
The promise of social media? To connect with friends, make the world a more open place, and keep up to date with your social circles.
Social media has enabled everyone with access to the World Wide Web the ability to see what their friends are doing, to interact in debates about controversial news and much more.
It would be easy to assume, therefore, that this new democratisation of social interaction, that we would feels closer to others, more connected, and thus happier.
Does relating to another person online, through online chat or viewing a friend’s pictures from an event last night, actually result in an enhanced feeling of closeness?
As parents it’s a common wonder whether the hours and hours kids spend on social sites scrolling and clicking incessantly actually is healthy for them and whether it really makes the happier.
All of these concerns are both valid and urgent.
The expansion of Internet usage is not slowing. Our culture has forever changed because of it, and how we as humans are being affected by it is a worthwhile point of discussion.