We Keep People Waiting
The web has changed romance for sure. But it’s had a huge impact on platonic friendships, too. And, unfortunately, keeping in touch with friends is another area where the digital world is just making things worse, despite enabling such instant connections.
According to our data, 65% of people agreed that instant messaging apps make it easier to cancel meeting up with friends. Whether it’s because you don’t have to look them in the face as you let them down, or because you can just send it and forget it, the online world is plagued with plan-cancellers at every turn.
To make matters worse, most people online don’t even want to respond to their friends, let alone make plans with them. 50% of respondents admit to deliberately making friends ‘sweat’ for a reply to messages. And for those on the receiving end, the impact is felt – 70% of people said they experience anxiety when they know that people have read their messages, but not replied. I guess the Golden Rule simply doesn’t apply when it comes to the internet.
We Miss Real World Interaction
Being constantly connected sounds fun, but it’s become a burden as well as a blessing to many. Luckily, people are still willing to admit that they really miss the real world. In our survey, 90% of respondents said they still value face-to-face communication above all else.
This also leads to a sense of disillusionment with online interactions – 53% of respondents said they feel let down when friends message them, instead of catching up with them on birthdays or in a time of need. And 75% prefer to have a rant in real life with friends, rather than complaining in messaging groups.
Whether the above statistics demonstrate our commitment to getting back to the real world or our hopeless addiction to technology remains to be seen. But according to our data, 27% of people have never received a physical card or flowers on their birthday, but received online messages instead, and that needs to change.
These statistics are admittedly unsettling but hardly surprising. Not to sound like an old man yelling at a cloud, but you can’t ride a train, walk down the street, or have a conversation without someone looking at their favorite devices. And consumer tech companies are finally taking notice.
In a recent years, smartphone manufacturers in particular have become acutely aware of the increasingly life-consuming nature of their products. In response, many of them have begun adding screen time limiting features into their devices to bridge the gap between how much people use technology and how much they miss the real world.
Apple’s newest iOS 12 update, for example, includes a Screen Time feature that tracks the time spent on your device and even allows you to set time limits to keep you from procrastinating for too long. Google’s Pixel devices are also equipped with a similar feature, dubbed Digital Wellbeing, which can help you set reminders to put your phone down, in addition to the same functions in iOS 12.
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Tech companies are beginning to take responsibility for the increasingly influential products they release to the public. And that’s a good thing. Now, if we could all just be a little more conscious of how we treat people online without their help, we might be able to remember why the internet was such a good idea in the first place.
Nearly 90% of people think that social media and instant messaging make it easier to flirt, and they’re not wrong. Social media and dating apps are one thing, but the internet has leaned so heavily towards enabling hookup culture that there are now dedicated infidelity websites such as Ashley Madison, designed to help you flirt or cheat on your spouse. What a world.
