You want immediate and round-the-clock access to connect with your friends and favorite brands on social networking sites. If you can’t instantly share your vacation pictures and last night’s “killer sushi” dinner with one click, you download another app that will. You won’t accept fees to access any of these sites or services, yet you complain about the advertising that appears within the sites.
You want to find what you’ve Googled on the first page or you’ll re-enter your search query; you never continue to the second or dare I say, 3rd page of results. You want special treatment for your repeat visits or purchases yet complain when asked to fill in a survey about your preferences.
Social media has created a culture of entitled, whiny crybabies who expect that everything will be given to them without compromise, fees or responsibility. We post pictures of ourselves drunk at bars and complain when they’re used against us at a job interview. We complain about our bosses and work environment on Twitter and seek legal advice when we’re fired for doing so.
Technological advancements are moving at such a fast pace that I have to wonder about the impact it’s having on the industry and on us as individuals? Internet devices are always on; meeting face-to-face has becoming rare as people choose to meet screen-to-screen. Even within the professional world, Skype, Google+ Hangouts and GoToMeeting are reducing the need for people to work in a single office or for businesses to travel to their clients for meetings.
The demand on technology to facilitate better communication with our family, friends and colleagues has grown exponentially alongside our demand for unrestricted, fast and glitch-free services. We blindly accept Terms of Service agreements without reading the fine print and then act surprised and shocked that someone is collecting and sharing our information. We want it all; we want it now. We want fast and superior services but we don’t want to pay for it.
There’s no answer in this post. Only a question.
What is the impact of social media’s culture of entitlement? Join the debate: are we setting unrealistic expectations? Will society continue to accept social media’s free services in exchange for reduced privacy and advertising? Will there be a tipping point? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Sam Fiorella
Feed Your Community, Not Your Ego
Image Credit: joanneQEscober, licensed via Creative Commons
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