Headline, November 28 2024/ ''' NORMS COMMUNICATIONS NORTH '''

''' NORMS 

COMMUNICATIONS

 NORTH '''

IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE - HOW PEOPLE could sense vibes and authenticity through typed messages. '' It's not the culture for people to talk to each other anymore, so how are we to connect? ''

Even when the students are walking to class, everyone is occupied with his smartphone. It feels intrusive to say hello to someone.

OVER THE SUMMER - LAURA MARCIANO - a researcher at Harvard University, interviewed 500 teenagers / students for a continuing study investigating the link between technology and loneliness.

For several weeks, the teenagers, who were recruited with the help of Instagram influencers, answered a questionnaire three times a day about their social interactions. Each time, more than 50 percent said they had not spoken to anyone in the last hour, either in person or online.

To put it another way, even though the teenagers were on break from school and spending plenty of time on social media apps, most of them were not socializing at all.

Americans -[even the world]- now spend more time alone, have fewer close friendships and feel more socially detached from their communities than they did 20 years ago.

One in two adults reports experiencing loneliness, the psychological distress that people endure from social isolation.

The U.S, surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, declared loneliness an epidemic late last year.

Ever since, scholars and psychologists have accelerated research into whether technology is contributing. The rise of smartphones and social networking apps has forever changed social norms around how we communicate.

More personable interactions like phone calls have been superseded by text messages.When people broadcast their lives on TikTok and Instagram, they may not be representing themselves in a genuine way.

'' It's hard to know who's being real online, and it's hard for people to be themselves online, and that is a recipe for loneliness,'' Dr. Murthy said in an interview.

He concluded that loneliness had become an epidemic after reviewing scientific studies and speaking with college students last year, he said.

I went down a rabbit hole for a few months reading research papers and interviewing academics about tech and loneliness. [ Many studies focused on how younger people / students used technology, but their conclusions were still relevant to older adults who used the same tech.]

The consensus among scholars was clear :

While there was little proof that tech directly made people lonely [ plenty of socially connected, healthy people use lots of tech ], there was a strong correlation between the two, meaning that those who reported feeling lonely might be using tech in unhealthy ways.

The correlation was rooted in three main behaviours:

.-  On social media apps like Instagram, many fell into the trap of comparing themselves with others and feeling that they were lagging behind their peers.

.- Text messaging, by far the most popular form of digital communication, could be creating a barrier to authentic connection.

.-  And, perhaps unsurprisingly, some people who felt lonely also exhibited addictive personalities - in this case, to streaming videos -that kept them indoors.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Social Media, Technology, Loneliness and behaviours, continues. The World Students Society thanks Brian X Chen.

With respectful dedication to Mankind, Researchers, Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See You all prepare for Great Global Elections on !WOW! - the exclusive and eternal ownership of every student in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter X !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless