Digital Intimacy

In Thompsons article he’s arguing that social media is helping our lives become more public but also through the idea of gaining a self-uniqueness. It is interesting to see because as we keep going forward through this social media boom the way we’re thinking is changing everyday. No longer do we need to talk and interpret people face to face, but instead, we can just go on a social media site and from that one site gather a ton of information on someone. Doing this is taking away the ability to gather information and analyze. Thompson talks about ambient awareness, which is the information you gather from what someone puts up. The problem I have with this argument is you can’t really get to know someone just through social media. I have a bunch of friends whose personalities are completely different on social media sites than they are in the real world. Thompson does say how tweeting or posting a status leads people to think about their feeling and can become a bit of a philosophical activity. I have a hard time agreeing with this because for the most part on these social media sites we are skimming through information and we may post and think about our mood but this action for most people only happens a couple times a day. Overall I do not agree with much of Thompsons article but he does bring up interesting points and it makes us realize how far we have come through social media relationships.