Whether we like it or not, we are in the midst of a social revolution. Gone are the days when we communicate with telegrams or letter mail. Gone are the days where a Like button meant nothing. Gone are the days when avatars and handles and 140 characters and posts were things found primarily in the farm yard.
Gone are the days when this exact moment was shared only between you and those directly around you, not broadcast to friends far and wide on Instagram. Gone are the days of journeying into a new land and having only a hand written letter of introduction (and maybe an advanced telegram) to take you on your journey.
We find ourselves spearheading this social revolution and becoming champions of this new frontier, reorganizing social and society in an entirely new way that has the possibility of connecting the world through infinite little wires once and for all where we are able to gain so much more insight into each others lives to allows us to connect, understand, and share in a more direct way we’ve never been able to before.
In fact, the basis of empathy – identifying and understanding another’s situation or feelings – is entirely rooted in this, to wear somebody else’s shoes for a day.
Understanding this, I have two immediate questions. The first is how much then do we share in our new social society? Do we allow ourselves to be a social innovator, pushing the comfort zones and the boundaries many have erected before us?
And if we do, does this make us more social? It’s easy to see how sharing like this could quickly transition into being used as a soapbox, rather than hypertextual wires; lifelines.
It’s up to you if and how you respond. It’s also up to you how you choose to use this new tool.
