Is Social Media Making Us Socially Awkward Infographic

So everybody and their mom either knows about or has their own Facebook. Fact. It’s infiltrated our lives so swiftly and soundly that there is scarcely a comparison in regard to the amount of omnipotency it takes in our lives. For some it’s become the modern time-killer, the self aggrandizer, and a way for us to make friends with people who might not be our actual friends.

Though it seems I’m bashing it, Facebook does have it’s redeemable qualities – spreading news to faraway friends, allowing a quick and easy template for creating events or promotion of projects important to our lives, and giving us some self esteem on our birthdays. However, there is an undeniable side effect in making such a lonely activity, such as staring at a computer screen or phone, as ‘social’ as Facebook is.

Looking at these statistics almost 24% of people surveyed have missed important real-life moments because they were too busy trying to document it using social media. In fact, 39% of Americans spend more time socializing online rather than face-to-face and 33% prefer to meet new people online rather than in person. Though it may seem strange to those of us who have grown up without Facebook, it is slowly changing how we interact with one another on a fundamental level. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, but Mr. Zuckerburg’s beast has certainly changed something.


There’s no doubt social media enables us to organize our real-world relationships, and even meet new people outside the digital realm — both of which can be great, life-enhancing things.

But could social networking have an adverse effect on our quality of life?

Consider this: 24% of respondents to one survey said they’ve missed out on enjoying special moments in person because — ironically enough — they were too busy trying to document their experiences for online sharing. Many of us have had to remind ourselves to “live in the now” — instead of worry about composing the perfect tweet or angling for just the right Instagram shot.

Worldwide, Facebook users spend 10.5 billion minutes each day surfing the site — and that doesn’t even include mobile use, according to the company’s IPO filing. Collectively, that’s nearly 20 years per day that people spend living online instead of offline.

Facebook users in India, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore all spend an average of more than 20 minutes on-site every day. In Singapore, the figure is a whopping 38 minutes.

A survey by the social site Badoo, meanwhile, found that 39% of Americans spend more time socializing online than in person. 20% actually prefer communicating online or via text message to face to face conversation, while a third said they’re more likely to approach someone new online than off.

The online education portal Schools.com recently culled findings from a variety of media and research outlets to create the infographic below, which details the positive and negative ways social media impacts real world relationships. Check it out below for the fuller picture.

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