If there’s one thing that has changed the way people live in my generation, it’s the Internet. This resulted in our generation being titled the “technology generation” and social networking is now one of the most prominent uses of technology. Marshall McLuhan famously stated that the medium is the message, meaning that a medium, in this case technology, influences the message, which is social networking. To take that a step further, social networking is basically just a filtered view of other people’s lives so really technology influences life. This expression, as stated by McLuhan, basically says that mediums and messages exist symbiotically. The message can’t exist without the medium, however the medium always has an influence on the message.

So what does this mean for social networking influencing life? Being an involuntary test subject as an active Facebook member of almost five years and casual Twitter user I can give my own view of social media. People have an unbelievable obsession with themselves due to social networking, I read countless Status Updates and Tweets daily that don’t really express anything aside from the sharing of someone’s day-to-day routine. It’s a cultural idea that everyone cares about what is immediately happening in your life and that you should care about others as well. Our culture discourages boredom and encourages social media use, we have multiple uses of time-wasting now. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube, Tumblr, Stumble-upon, and Pinterest are all frequently used to kill time and entertain others.

Having said that, social media still creates an amazing ease of access the to the people you truly DO care about and entertainment is provided when you want it. What’s important is to keep in mind that everything is best in moderation, and that social media is no exception. The only question that remains is if social networking will die off eventually, or if it will follow the Social Network quote and “never go out of style, like fashion”. Time will only tell.