Social Media, in and of itself, does not make people more socially awkward.
In fact, I would’ve so far as to say that it enables people to be less awkward than any generation previous. Now, there is a tool that gives people an instant feedback loop on their behaviors, so you can try things out and adjust your mannerisms to quickly iterate your personality.
People are becoming more evolved emotionally at a much faster rate than ever before – which is good, because they are also taking in data at an exponentially higher rate than ever before.
If the point of the question was to ask whether “Silent Dinners”, where people meet and then spend the entire time staring at their phones, is awkward, I would say that there simply hasn’t been anything added to Miss Manners’ guide about it yet.
For example, is it acceptable upon first in-person meeting to spent the whole time chatting across the dinner table in emoji?
Can you send a Snapchat from across the room?
On what date is it acceptable to Friend someone’s bestie on Facebook?
Is it ok to add someone on LinkedIn before or After a meeting?
If I’ve been ghosted, can I still say hi at the grocery store?
There are new rules at play about what is socially acceptable. It does not mean that people are awkward who don’t do things the old way.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Does-social-media-make-us-more-socially-awkward
Originally Posted On: 2016-03-19