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Have you ever thought what the world would be like without the existence of blogs and social media? What would our lives be like if we never had social platforms like Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc? What would it be like if we didn’t blog nor have blogs to read?
I was having a moment of reflection and random musings a few days ago about this and thought of what it would be like if social media never existed. I thought I’d share them with you today. A bit of a short and random Bloggie Wednesday topic but hey, it gets you thinking, doesn’t it? Do you reckon your life would improve if you’re completely free of blogs and social media? Or do you think it would be worse without them?
Without blogs and social media,
- We wouldn’t be able to Google swatches of new makeup prior to purchase, which helps us to make wiser makeup-buying decisions. In fact, we’d make better purchase decisions on anything we can Google reviews on. Period.
- We wouldn’t be able to read reviews of places to visit, restaurants/cafes to eat at, etc, which would make it difficult to plan getaway trips.
- We wouldn’t be able to improve our writing. Even though there will be blogs that don’t have grammatically-correct writing, but being able to write frequently does help improve one’s writing skills, however quickly or slowly. With writing comes more frequent reading and that helps even more.
- We wouldn’t be able to bring our grievances about long-standing bad customer service to the people who would actually listen.
- Unfortunately, it also meant that we now have platforms to whinge, complain and rant willy-nilly when most of us wouldn’t say them to the person face-to-face. Ditto with cyber-bullying.
- We wouldn’t be able to make new friends and keep in touch with old ones.
- We also wouldn’t be able to lurk behind the screen and keep abreast with what other people are doing without having to share your own life. Facebook is a popular platform for this. I’ve asked plenty of my friends on why they like Facebook. Their answer? “So that I can nosy about what other people are up to”. ๐
- We wouldn’t be able to pick up basic to intermediate technical know-how like CSS, PHP and HTML quickly when we have to troubleshoot our blogs on our own, especially if we’re not trained in IT.
- We wouldn’t be able to share our lives with people we love who are living far away from us.
- We would have lost extra income streams.
- We wouldn’t be able to help people out in need quickly and efficiently. Social media makes doing social good much easier than before.
- We wouldn’t learn of breaking news almost instantaneously when things happened.
Would life be better for me without blogs and social media? If I never had them, I would never miss them. But since I have them, I believe my life have improved significantly with the existence of blogs and social media. I would do regular digital detoxes but if you asked me to remove blogs and social media from my life altogether, I don’t think I’d be able to make it.
I can’t imagine life before Google…but I went to school and university and law school without it, so it must have existed!
Wendy@BlushandBarbells recently posted..Shape Magazine Meet and Tweet
Hahahahaha! In uni, I used Altavista (remember that?) and sometimes Yahoo! A friend of mine mainly used Google and I remember laughing at her back then for using such an obscure search engine when Yahoo was so much better. Oh boy, how things have changed!
If blogs & social media didn’t exist – I’d probably be fitter .. lol. I probably trade more gym time than I’d like to admit to watch youtube.
Monica.
MonicaP recently posted..Blissmo Box No. 3 รขยย More Eats!
Hahahahah I agree! I reckon I’d move more instead of lounging away with an iPad and phone.
I wouldn’t have met you lor! LOL I’m actually very glad I grew up in the dark ages of the internet or I think I might have failed my exams. Also, having to scrimp and save, just to call home, queue in the cold at the public phone booth, waiting your turn, hearing the voice of loved ones so damned far away, it was priceless. These days, everything is so quick. Perfect for staying in touch, but I think, we appreciate it less and maybe even expect more – “Why my whatsapp message has a blue tick but you didn’t reply?” So if blogs and SM didn’t exist, I would have had a smaller social circle, I wouldn’t have met all the wonderful people I now call my friends, but I might also have been a lot more productive in live. Who knows eh?
Paris B recently posted..Your Say: Do you buy backups of your favourite beauty products?
Hahahaha I know! I’m so glad for blogging because I met you and had you at my wedding! ๐ Back then, you telling the reception area that you’re “a blogging friend”, they were like, er what? These days, Twitter friends, Instagram friends, blogging friends … oh my, even weddings have hashtags! ๐
Hehe I had a mobile phone in uni (one of those chunky and heavy Nokia 3210s) and Vodafone back then had 100 mins of free international calls. I was only able to call home 4 times a month and I had to monitor my usage very closely. I didn’t have Internet connection in my dorm for the first 2 years I lived there so there wasn’t any Skyping with people at home. Even though I saw and heard from them far less, those moments were so treasured. These days with Whatsapp and cheap broadband, everyone is so connected. I have to wonder if it really is that good a thing.
I wouldn’t know what to buy, where to eat, which movie to watch, etc if online reviews and social media didn’t exist. But once in a while I remind myself that it’s good to be an adventurer – to not be afraid to try new things- a new restaurant, new cuisine, new cities and countries to explore. Life’s too short to obey the rules! Lol
Winston recently posted..KESTER BLACK: Your new weekend ritual that could be saving lives. . .
Spot on, Winston, spot on! ๐