As a student of engineering, most of time we are facing the computer, working, studying, or entertaining. Social network thus playing an important part in our daily life because we have more chance to check it. When life in social network becomes part of(or a large part of) our daily life, I begin to consider whether social network is a source of distance from real life.
Firstly, please admit me to divide social network into two types in my opinion.
For type one I'll say it's such social network as presenting one's real information and close combined to daily life. One example is Facebook, or renren in mainland China. Users' information on such webs is supposed to be true, like a true name and a true image. And the content on it is also based on reality, about one's work, one's study, and one's life. So reading such content can be somehow like reading one's life. It can be a good way to get closer to life, especially for those who have little time and chance to go out to see many friends face to face, just like us, most time of whose is limited in the library, the lab, the classroom or anywhere in front of the computer.
For type two here can be such social network as creating an ID and acting as a role inside it. Here the example can be twitter, or weibo in mainland China. Users' information on such webs can be totally product of imagination. Certainly, there can be some users willing to show a real life in such webs but it's not necessary, or not most users supposed to do. I'll admit that activity on such webs can be more free, with less responsibility. You can only focus on things you like, no considering anything else. You can forget any task in life here, because now you are just your ID. Maybe one will find it brings more happiness because everything here is pleasant(because they are all your choices), and will find friends more easily here(because people here tend to only show what they are fond of, and you'll find those who have the same tastes with you, ignoring other differences between you). But I think it really a source of distance from real life. For content on it is only what you tend to accept, it can be a way of escape. You live somehow in your imagination here. And considering friends made on such social network, in fact you know only a little point of them, your topics are also limited in such little point, let alone maybe you even haven't access to each other's real information. So when you live in real life, friends you need are also friends in real life. When you like life on such social network more, and when you have more friends here than in real life, distance from real life becoms larger.
So that's my point ~~~
Yeah, you are right. As you said, there is some distance between social network and real life. Undoubtedly,social network make our life rich and convenient, but it doesn't means the more time spent on social life, the more beneficial to our real life. As we know,deindividuation and virtuality is another side of social network. If one person is addicted to social network on the long run, it will be significant increase in one's depression and loneliness, and a decrease in one's reality social engagement. Therefore, it is important for us to balance the social network and real life.
回复删除Very smart division of the two types of social network! I think this really fits the theory talked on recently two lectures, say, the directed model and the undirected model. Facebook or Renren can be a undirected model for two users who have to acknowledge each other. So in this kind of SNS, information is mostly shared among real world friends. On the other hand, Weibo or Twitter can be a directed model as you pointed out, so it is more free to some extent, and information shared on this kind of SNS is widespreded. So the former one seems to be more close to our real life.
回复删除I am agree with your opinion that we can divide social network into two types. As for me, I spend much time on type one when I was an undergraduate student, but after working, I spend more time on type two. So it is a very interesting phenomenon. But I think even we like life on such social network more (type two), and when we have more friends here than in real life, the distance from real life may not becoms larger.
回复删除