Social Media: The Erosion of Human Interaction

While Continuing my read through Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, I began to realize something. Social media may actually be making us less social! The book uses an example of a couple who is going through a tumultuous time in their pregnancy at the hospital. They found it more convenient to use social media to communicate medical news to their friends and family:

"'I hated getting calls,'Michelle told us. 'I was in the hospital, telling the same story over and over again.' Her husband, TJ, was also overburdened as he tried to juggle communications with relatives, his job at a mortgage company, supporting his wife in a hospital more than an hour from his home, and making crucial medical decisions" (p.154).

Of course given the circumstances, it would be reasonable for them to do this. The book makes it clear that they don't have the time to make personal contact with all the concerned parties. Perhaps I'm just traditional, but it seems to me that important and personal news such as that regarding a pregnancy should be communicated in an important and personal way. Updating a blog post might contain important information but its certainly not personal by definition. It is intended to be a general statement for consumption by a group, not an individual. I'm not criticizing their decision to do that, as it is obviously more convenient and less stressful to get the message out to loved ones. I'm simply pointing out that if everyone does this, then when do family members get calls? Facebook has largely taken over for holiday messages such as birthdays. Some people announce engagements and pregnancies over social media now as well. Only the immediate and closest relatives get personal calls to convey the news.

The book then proceeds to give a brief history of customer service method, specifically about call centers and their associated costs:

"Companies that do telephone support spend billions of dollars to run those call centers.
     The quest to reduce those support costs has driven two of the huge trends in America in the past ten years" (p.157).

Those two trends being outsourcing the call centers and directing people to websites for additional information. And now trends are showing that forms of social media are becoming the most common customer service method; and the cheapest. They discuss how computer company, Dell has switched to online support forums where there are official Dell staff to help people, but more often other people help individuals with problems.

"Forums work. Applications range from iRobot, which uses the to help owners of its robot vacuum cleaners solve each other's problems," (p.162).

I do agree with the main point of the chapter though! Social media is far easier, and cheaper for companies to provide customer service. Especially when other customers are doing it for you. And it can be a lot less stressful during tough times to communicate with family and friends. There is a reason why this has gained popular support among individuals and companies. My point is simply this: We should all make a conscious acknowledgment of what is occurring. Lets not say goodbye to face to face, or voice to voice interactions without realizing that they are being left behind, and recognize possible consequences of this.