XavierFaux's Question of the Day #3

[ExaliaFaux]

I take like 2-3 days to ask every other question lol. I'm so bad at doing this daily ;w;

Anyways, this is a pretty simple question!

Would you rather be unable to use search engines or unable to use social media?

I use Social Media a LOT, but I personally don't think I would be able to go without search engines with the profession I'm leaning towards. I don't wanna go back to the days of heading to a library to find information so I'd rather be unable to use social media. Imagine a world where we don't use social media. As someone who has lived like that as a kid, it was a much simpler time. All your friends would be irl friends and you'd see them only when you can. Maybe you'd call them sometimes on the phone just to talk about nothing in particular. Nowadays, we all have phones and such that I find it hard to ever get out of the house for any particular reason. Then again, I'm an introvert so this is a blessing in disguise. The internet really made things easy for all of us and I appreciate what we can do with it! But I do value the ability to search up something I either need to know or want to know about. 

What about you guys? What would you rather be unable to use?

[MrCamper]

The thing is, Social media is not just Facebook, Instagram etc.. - Youtube, Reddit and forums such of this would all count and these types of social media are a brilliant source of information.

If I was only allowed to use one then the only thing I would use search engines for is to find new sources of information.  As long as I can remember the URL's of the website I frequent most, then I would only need to search for new information on Youtube. Wikipedia or Reddit. These in themselves will then will either provide me with the information that I need or Reddit at the least would link me to another website which would then provide me with the information, taking over the need for a search engine. 

So I'd choose to keep social media, not for the social element but for everything else it gives us. 

[Guest Viaggravated]

Anything is a social media if you're dedicated enough,

but if you're speaking of conventional social medias, I'd choose to go without those.

I already don't use many social media sites, but game platforms and other places where media is posted and games are played are my go-to.

I'd be okay without many forums, I don't use many of those either, but as long as I can communicate with those I play video games with, I'd be happy.

[Zlitz]

I can do without social media all day long, search engines however need to stay. Is linkedin under the same social media bubble for you? If so then it would be a bit hit or miss. 

[Leejey]

I am 100% sure social media for me.

The amount of times you look something up instead of opening a book is not even funny anymore.

And if you go in it with the psychological view, you would be actually way better off without social media, since it drains our happiness over the long run.

 

[ExaliaFaux]

4 hours ago, Zlitz said:

I can do without social media all day long, search engines however need to stay. Is linkedin under the same social media bubble for you? If so then it would be a bit hit or miss. 

According to one of my CIS courses, Linkedin is Social Media for work. It was argued pretty hard whether or not something could be considered Social Media. 

On 8/17/2019 at 9:49 AM, MrCamper said:

The thing is, Social media is not just Facebook, Instagram etc.. - Youtube, Reddit and forums such of this would all count and these types of social media are a brilliant source of information.

If I was only allowed to use one then the only thing I would use search engines for is to find new sources of information.  As long as I can remember the URL's of the website I frequent most, then I would only need to search for new information on Youtube. Wikipedia or Reddit. These in themselves will then will either provide me with the information that I need or Reddit at the least would link me to another website which would then provide me with the information, taking over the need for a search engine. 

So I'd choose to keep social media, not for the social element but for everything else it gives us. 

Yes! I very much agree with your statement. I'm sure advertisements in the real world would allow you to find your favorite sources of info and just memorizing those links/bookmarking would prove useful, but Search engines would make that INCREDIBLY easy as it already does. Search Engines such as Google also have their own form of News Sources from what I recall. Assuming Search Engines are unavailable, New info in social media can be shoddy as it has been previously. That isn't to say that news sources can't be unreliable, but the extra research to properly fact check a social media post would be pretty time consuming. I also believe that search engines would make it better for those who want to create their own news outlet or source of information as they can be searched. This gives most people an equal playing ground in terms of providing news coverage or information on w/e you decide to provide. It's pretty tough for me because I also enjoy Social Media on the daily, including YouTube and Twitch though the definition of Social Media is sorta blurred.

Maybe I should've defined what a Social Media is considered since it's something that some of the professors I know have a hard time arguing because "if you're able to converse and connect it's a social media" which would mean any place that allows comments could be considered a social media. I think what makes "Social Media" what it is is the fact that it's primary function is to share media, converse with others, and connect. So while Facebook is a Social Media being primarily to share stuff and talk with others, EloCarry's forum is NOT a social media as it's primary function is to discuss and mediate transactions with the EloCarry product rather than connect people together despite having that functionality. 

5 hours ago, Viaggravated said:

Anything is a social media if you're dedicated enough,

but if you're speaking of conventional social medias, I'd choose to go without those.

I already don't use many social media sites, but game platforms and other places where media is posted and games are played are my go-to.

I'd be okay without many forums, I don't use many of those either, but as long as I can communicate with those I play video games with, I'd be happy.

Very good point as to what can be considered a "social media" which truly is the issue in terms of what we would keep or not keep when presented this question.

Even IF Social Media was defined the way I had presented, then people would find a way to create a social media due to their need to socialize.

4 hours ago, Leejey said:

I am 100% sure social media for me.

The amount of times you look something up instead of opening a book is not even funny anymore.

And if you go in it with the psychological view, you would be actually way better off without social media, since it drains our happiness over the long run.

 

This is a big agree from me. As sad as my current introverted life is, I do need human interaction from time to time. There are people I personally care about that I'd want to go hang out with irl, but we can only meet on Social Media. Regardless of that, it would be VERY difficult to go back to going to a library and searching for a book manually about something you needed to learn about or hope that X news source had posted about Y thing so you can do a school report on it. These are two parts of the internet that people have taken for granted and it just makes life feel so much harder before all of this. These are the things that keep me up at night.