Blog

By Ngozi Adighibe 

I have come to realize that just as there is a culture of language, dressing and other unique societal characteristics, there is also a culture of connectivity.

According to Van Dijck (2013), the prevalent use of technologically created platforms have caused many people to move their social, cultural and professional lives to online environments. It has become common practice to be continuously active online; hence, these online platforms have taken on the shape and pattern of every day human life.

The usual sharing of information and interaction between friends and family has shifted from offline and face to face interactions to online platforms. This is why the author of the book, ‘The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media’ points out that social media platforms have redefined the concept of ‘sharing’ (Van Dijck, 2013).

Personally, I concur with her analysis because these days, individuals post all kinds of information on Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs). People post their problems, successes, joys, worries, and some post every single occurrence in their lives; including information that was once generally considered to be personal. Hence, you have people sharing to the world, videos and photos of occasions like the birth of a child – from the process of labour to the delivery of that child, and other things that were once kept private or at least within the family.

Facebook, in particular, has made it seem like the norm to share and continuously post all of one’s life experiences for the whole world to see. This change in societal views is what the author of the book mentioned above tries to bring to the attention of readers. It is, however interesting to note that very many users of these social media sites are unaware of its implications. So, they perform their roles without conscious thought to the underlying meaning of their actions. What does this mean?

Stay tuned to this blog. Until then, think about your actions!