Humans are inherently social. When deprived of human contact, we go crazy. Even criminals fear solitary confinement. We are also an adventurous and creative animal. Sometimes these two basic instincts – our social and adventurous sides – work together to create outcomes that change the world. Our multiple migrations out of Africa illustrate our social and creative nature working together.
However, our social and creative sides don’t always complement each other.
Social media, when misused, can lead to more options for being connected, but result in fewer meaningful connections. For some people, the use of social technology can turn into a run away feedback loop. As we create more ways of connecting, some people feel more isolated, so we create more ways for people to connect, but often people end up with fewer actual relationships. And the game goes on – we create more ways of connecting, only to feel more isolated than before. Despite having more ways of connecting, loneliness is at an all time high. Ironically, social media may be leading more people away from what we really need: Face-to-face interaction with friends, lovers, and family. The video below explains this paradox in detail.
