Social media has shaped the lives of millions of people globally to a tremendous extent, allowing them to transfer their social life to the digital realm and become active participants. Admittedly, the success of the specified innovative technology was quite predictable, even though the scale of it is quite stunning to this day. However, the rapid expansion of social media into every facet and aspect of people’s lives and the manner in which people lose themselves in the amount of information provided by social media is quite troubling. In her article, Dieker (2017) explains that reducing the number of active contacts on social media is not only possible but also vital for one’s emotional and mental well-being, which should be seen as a reasonable response to the observed increase in the number of social connections that people make on social media.
Specifically, minimizing active communication and, therefore, the range of active contacts, to a manageable amount appears to be quite reasonable and responsible as opposed to blocking conversations. Defining the specified process as “culling,” Dieker (2017) specifies that a range of interactions that people have on social media may be unhealthy and unproductive. For instance, the author encourages culling trolls and other types of participants that thrive on fostering the development of negativity in their opponents (Dieker, 20217).
What makes the pieces of advice provided by Dieker especially important is her ability to balance between two extremes, namely, acceptance of any online communication and refusing to use online platforms for socializing, in general. The author manages to locate a reasonable compromise between the specified options while maintaining friendly online interactions. Therefore, the recommendations that Dieker offers are especially important for present-day online interactions.
Additionally, the article states that rejecting possible friendships online completely is not necessary; instead, one might consider muting or unfollowing specific people, resorting to blocking only when the communication becomes noticeably unpleasant. The described perspective on online communication also appears to be quite reasonable. Indeed, given the cover that anonymity provides to online users, the threat of cyberbullying and online attacks remains quite pronounced on social media. For this reason, being able to decide when a conversation is steered toward bullying and being capable of stopping it immediately represents an important quality that one must have in order to communicate freely in the digital setting.
However, while being quite informative, the article still does not address the problem of emotional discomfort that culling might entail. Since failing to follow up or downright refusing a conversation is deemed as very rude behavior in an offline setting, people may hesitate to take the described steps online. Thus, although explaining the importance of culling quite accurately and thoroughly, Dieker does not provide the emotional support that could help people to justify their decision to stop communicating with certain people in their social media friend lists. Thus, the article helps its readers to make the first step toward creating a healthy online environment, yet leaves enough room for developing initiative.
References
Dieker, N. (2017). It’s time to unfriend and unfollow on social media. Lifehacker.com. Web.