The Social Life of Twitter
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 9:41AM The recently completed annual Urban Market Research survey, compiled by the Australian youth marketing agency, Lifelounge, found an increase in 16-30 year olds who have had enough of chatting online with friends. Instead, it is claimed, they want to spend more face-to-face time with them. This is believed to be a result of the current global recession.
The CEO of Lifelounge, referring to the youth of Australia, was quoted: "And they want more connections with their friends that aren't digital, that are tangible. They're starting to question the authenticity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter."
In times of economic upheaval, members of an affected society are inevitably forced to reassess the way they are living. Items purchased that were once considered necessary are dropped by the wayside; activities that were a de facto part of one's routine are examined anew. The Great Recession, through which the world is currently suffering, is no different.
According to the aforementioned study, the recent, long-term trend of the youth, including teenagers, conducting one's social life via technology may finally be subsiding. Despite the overwhelming publicity garnered by Twitter and Facebook, there is nothing new about technology being used to maintain one's connections with others; the telephone is a primary example.
As both the fixed and variable costs of telephone service dropped in the 1970s and 1980s, the stereotype of the chatty teenager spending hours on calls with his or her friends became a snapshot of one's formative years. An argument can be made, however, that the telephone did not take the place of face-to-face contact, but rather augmented it. Long-distance calls were still expensive for most families, so contact was primarily confined to those one would see on a daily basis anyway.
The advent of email in the general population starting in the late 1990s provided another method to stay in touch with one's friends and loved ones. It's lack of instant communication, though, did not substantially change relationship dynamics. It did, however, allow friendships over great distances to be promulgated, something not yet available with the telephone.
Finally, with the introduction of instant messaging, texting, Facebook, and now Twitter, technology has become an integral aspect of relationships as opposed to simply a tool to communicate. The benefits of instant communication without the etiquette required on telephone calls now allow a connection with a greater number of people albeit usually one of a shallow nature.
The interesting aspect of the Lifelounge study is that teenagers are reverting to a behavior that they never embodied. Unlike an adult who can refer to past recessions as a reference and adjust their behavior accordingly, teenagers have less of a history upon which to draw.
But, perhaps spurred on my the sudden belt-tightening of this deep recession, the youth are discovering what is really important in life -- money can come and go, most often out of one's control, but true friendships can weather any storm. And if both ends of a friendship live near one another, why spend so much time in the exchange of electrons when a face-to-face encounter can mean so much more? Maybe this jump to in-person communication will be looked at as the new marker of adulthood and maturity.
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