By: Rebecca Jones, WCC Communications Committee
With recent headlines like “We never talk any more: The problem with text messaging” (CNN, 09.06.12), and “Dad pays daughter $200 to quit Facebook” (Daily Dot, 02.06.13) some argue the new-style of socializing is actually causing Americans to become less social. In lieu of traditional personal contact as a society we now turn to one-way, less personal forms of communications; text messaging, Facebook posting, blogging, and so on. What do you think? Social media stats recently highlight the following:
- Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day.
- In 2006 the average time Americans spent on social networking was 2.7 hours per month, in 2011 it increased to 6.9 hours per month whereas socializing in person decreased from 22.8 hours to 21 hours. Other in-person social activities are decreasing including: phone, email, mail, taking care of household members and watching offline TV.
- In 2008, 24% of people in the US had a social media profile, in 2012 that number more than doubled with 56% having a social media profile.
- Social media accounts for 18% of time spent online.
- Facebook accounts for 6.75 hours per month, followed by tumblr and pintrest each averaging 1.5 hours. Twitter and LinkedIn fall even further logging on 21 minutes and 17 minutes respectively.
- The fastest growing social networking users are males of all ages and people over 55. The use of social networking in these demographics is increasing by more than 9% annually.
Does this mean the end to interpersonal communications or rather a diversification of how we traditionally spend our time? That’s for you to decide but remember being social can occur in many ways both traditional and non-traditional but groups such as WCC offer a great opportunity to do both! We invite you to be social with the Women’s Chamber of Commerce!