Social media can be a lot like a family gathering gone wrong when a meltdown in communication occurs. Yet, like many people, I enjoy the ability to connect and share information, especially on Facebook. But then I am a Baby Boomer.
Teens don’t seem to be that impressed by Facebook, and are never signing up or leaving the site “at an estimated rate of up to a million a year.” This according to a recent article in The Washington Post by Nico Lang, “…for new [social media] friends like Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.” Lang says that Facebook boasts one billion users, but that it is “highly popular” among Gen Xers, those born from the early 1960s to 1980s, and Baby Boomers (1946-1964). So, we can’t blame adolescents for all the drama that Facebook can elicit.
The site’s purpose can also seem rather ambiguous, since the lines of personal, professional, and even political communication sometimes intersect. I’ve noticed that occasionally connections misinterpret a comment’s intent, or express their opinion without reading it in its entirety too. There are also those acquaintances who are at work, who often comment or “like” a post. How can a person get their job done and still have time to keep updated on Facebook? Of course, you can legitimately justify professional networking sites like LinkedIn.
Still, multitasking might be a potential professional landmine according to an article by Travis Bradberry in Forbes last fall, “Multitasking Damages Your Brain and Career, New Studies Suggest.” Bradberry wrote, “Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive…people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.”
This research debunks the myth that some people excel at multitasking. “The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another,” noted Bradberry. Another study conducted at the University of London cited in the Forbes feature says that “multitasking lowers your IQ” as well.
New York Times best-selling author, Lysa Terkeurst agrees. In her 2014 book, “The Best Yes,” Terkeurst writes, “Checking your email in the middle of creative work momentarily knocks your IQ down 10 points, according to the British Institute of Psychiatry.” Personally, I doubt if checking Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are going to be much different. In an ethical sense, isn’t this also a form of employee time theft?
As for expressing an online viewpoint, some individuals appear to believe they are skilled writers, despite being oblivious to grammar, punctuation, or correct spelling even with spell check. More importantly, these fast-fingered folks don’t contemplate how their careless words could possibly affect the lives of others like a seasoned journalist would.
After all, it’s easy to hastily pound out an opinion on a keypad and instantly share on social media. Even if you are on your personal time, please think before you post, because it could cost you your job, or negatively impact the life of someone else.
Christina Ryan Claypool is an AP/Amy Award winning freelance journalist and former interpersonal communications instructor for Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Contact her through her Website at www.christinaryanclaypool.com
P-A-I-N! I definitely did not want this bleak word to start the new year. Here in Ohio, January is bitter cold and the days are gray enough. I tried desperately to push the word out of my mind, assured that I was not hearing our heavenly Father’s still small voice clearly.
I prayed and cried and begged the God who I had always known as Healer to restore me to the vibrant woman I had once been. All to no avail, as the physical pain continued, and fear of more pain increased my anxiety. The resulting emotional turmoil grew so intense that deep depression became a battle like it had been in my youth. I had never experienced anything like this. My heart was broken by my diminished existence, and also for all the other folks living daily with chronic pain. The kind of unceasing torment, that can ultimately cause you to question God’s love for you. Pentecostal by background, I did not theologically know how to explain pain. Didn’t I have enough faith? Was there sin somewhere in my heart? I knew all these faulty questions were not the problem, thankfully my non-charismatic brothers and sisters would never even ask them, yet I had watched others who were struggling being judged over my years in ministry. Even when I was well, I never wanted to judge someone suffering, knowing there is so much we will never understand with our finite mind.
I prayed and prayed that somehow God would help us make that old brick home ours, and was devastated while packing boxes again realizing that this was not to be His plan. I tried to be grateful as God provided a perfect place in a nearby city for my hubby and me to go, one that would finally be our own. But during the move, I seriously injured both of my knees with one requiring extensive surgery. Much of the last six months I have spent in a new community knowing almost no one, trapped inside recovering from painful surgery, further away from my son and with my spouse working his usual 12 hour days. Often, I must admit I have felt forgotten even by God.