In five or ten years, when most people in our generation are getting married, answering "we met on Tinder" when asked how one met their husband or wife will honestly probably be a common answer. I never really thought about it before, because CMC is so integrated into our lives that it feels natural; but after our lectures on CMC in class I started thinking about how many of the people I'm now friends with or dated in the past only came into my life because I met them on the Internet. I found one of my best friends on twitter because she hashtagged something that only people in our bio class were hashtagging. I wouldn't have two of the ex boyfriends that I have if it wasn't for having mutual friends on Facebook. So many of friends from high school moved away for college, and though I can't see them every day, I love being able to see what they're up to every day and just know about the little things that go on in their lives via social media. Computers and cellphones give us the ability to be in immediate contact with anyone-people we don't even know, or stay in touch with people we can't see physically without having to make a long distance call. Finding out that there are so many people out there that do the same weird things that you do, or having your crush like your "selfie" on Instagram, are tiny little things CMC brings that can always put a smile on your face.When I mentioned something about this to my parents, they laughed at me and said "Yeah, imagine how hard it was for us to actually have to meet people in real life." That really struck me, and I realized how grateful I am for CMC, because without it, I wouldn't have all the people in life that I do have. It may sound pathetic, like no one in this generation can make a friend in real life, and our parents and grandparents may find it sad. I, however, think that anything to make the world a smaller place and connect us all is such a cool and heartwarming thing.
Though we can all agree that there are so many advantages to be able to stay in touch with far away friends or have new people to talk at your fingertips, there are underlying consequences of every person you know being on social media. While CMC is great for creating new relationships and keeping up old ones, I also think it puts an unnecessary strain on relationships as well. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten mad at a boyfriend for liking another girl's "selfies" on Instagram, or one of my friends getting mad at me for tweeting before texting them back. When our parents were our age, none of this was an issue. All they had to base their relationships off of was face to face contact-no getting mad at someone for one silly little action on social media. Obviously, the smart thing for us to do would be to just stay off social media-it really would cut down a lot of problems. But let's face it-we're all nosey little brats who just need to know everyone's business, and there is no stopping the internet creeping. I recently saw a picture (on Twitter, of course) that said "I'm sorry I tweeted before texting you back. I'm sorry I opened your Snapchat but didn't respond. I'm sorry that these are things we worry about now." That is the most relevant thing to my life that I've heard in a long time. Honestly, if we take a look at all the strains CMC causes, I really think there would be just as many as good things. Is it really fun for us to be mad at a significant other because they retweeted something we didn't like? Or to feel like someone doesn't like us because they ignored a Snapchat? Sadly, these are things I find myself getting upset about on a daily basis. Listening to my friends, roommates, even people sitting behind me in class, I've heard numerous complaints about something that was said or done on social media. Some people say "It's just Facebook, calm down." But we're so used to and addicted to CMC that letting it consume our lives and feelings is the norm, and it's really not "just Facebook" anymore. It's mind blowing to me how many fights and hard feelings could be avoided if we all avoided social media, but we all know that will never happen. CMC is one of those things that we're all in a love-hate relationship with, and it's not going away.
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