Anti-Social Media

Picture it: New York City, 2010. A young professional urbanite woman runs on the city street, phone in hand, busily tapping away at the screen of her smart phone. She stops in front of the movie theater, presumably her destination as she walks in the door. What happens next?

She taps on a phone app and "checks in," before meeting up with her friends to go into the movie theater.

I guess the real question is...is she the mayor?

We're all guilty of it: using our smart phones as busy-time, kind of replacing the old tapping of our foot or even reading a book on the bus or train these days, providing some sort of personal entertainment be it videos, music, texting, Facebooking, Tweeting or most importantly, the new hip application of Foursquare, which is yet another social media app that allows you to check in at establishments or events. As an example, the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City, and there was a special "badge" one earned when you checked in. Because of the amounts of people checking into the venue (which could have theoretically been anywhere), I truly thought I was part of something unique...until I saw friends of mine from Ohio checking in on their Foursquare apps, just to get the badge (sorry for outing you guys).

Although I have to admit, Foursquare is cool. I'm the "Mayor" of several of my favorite establishments, which include my frequent watering holes and bakeries...On second thought, maybe it just shows how pathetic and a creature of habit I am.

Anyway, I have to say that the publication Time Out New York had a superb article detailing whether these applications enhance the New York City (or any city, really) experience in the aptly titled "Is Social Media Bad for NYC?"

I have to say, Dee and I are just as guilty of it. Whenever we go someplace, she and I are automatically on our Foursquares, telling the world (or rather, our little universe on Twitter and/or Facebook) where we are having dinner or meeting for drinks. We are letting people into our lives, willingly, but at the same time, we are taking time away from actually talking and interacting with each other, face-to-face. Not that either one of us complains. Sometimes, the feedback we get from our mutual friends is enough to give us ammo to talk all evening. Not that we need that anyway.

I thought the article was a bit pretentious, more about the idea that those who live in the Greater New York area label themselves as "tourists" when they are active users of these apps. Perhaps Foursquare (or Facebook or Twitter to a lesser extent) was making what used to be clandestine behavior very out in the open, at least in your sphere of influence.

Then again, it brought up some significant issues. Social media is changing the way we socialize, and what's more, is that we want EVERYONE to know about it.

Most importantly, these devices might take away from the actual experience and take away from New York City, in general. Now, New York City is a big place, and it will take a lot to change the dynamic here. But how many times is the first thing we do is grab our phones and shout to the world -- Hey everyone, I'm HERE!

Personally, if checking in someplace makes me "uncool," then so be it. As for being clandestine, I am very selective to where I tell people my whereabouts. After all, do I really need to be THAT available?