Has Social Media Made Us Nosier?

Social Media has led to us being constantly social - even in our alone time. In the hours you're barely awake, you're absorbing media and taking in information about others when you're not actually in a fit state to face the world. More than 40% of consumers check their phones within the first five minutes of waking up.

Everyone has a nosy nature, we all 'stalk' people we know on social media. We have the opportunity to find out basic things about someone's life - if they are in a relationship, what sort of friends they have or what they do at the weekends. It can be useful to know all these things and we know we can find this information, so why wouldn't we?

But, are we actually that interested? Or have we become programmed to be interested due to our social media addictions? Social media companies profit off our interest, and through the use of 'stories' and 'posting' they keep us constantly interested and involved in others' lives. As mobile phone users, we are now 'prosumers'. We believe it is normal to keep our followers updated on our life and expect them to be interested. Has our generation normalized being nosy?

People 'post' to perform the life they want people to think they have, meaning we all become interested in the way another person presents themselves on social media, as context to their character. This can be useful to know about someone and can influence your opinion on them even before you meet them in person. Obviously, we know the negative impacts social media has on body image, but we often brush off the influence of 'comparison culture' relating to everyday life. We are more interested in looking into others' lives to compare how you both represent your own lives, because the information to compare is readily available. Have we become addicted to finding out more about the life of people we know naturally or has this interest resulted from continuous social media use?

The domination of tabloid newspapers focusing on human interest means they have influenced the general growth of interest in others' lives. They thrive off social media making people more interested in others business for profit, the more personal the better. These newspapers may have led to the general public paying more attention to detail in others social media posts and in turn, have fueled a nosy generation. These papers have influenced a more toxic public interest in others' lives, which is a dangerous loop considering the barbarous opinions which result in media tragedies such as Caroline Flack.

We are now entertained by looking at others' lives, not even just celebrities, and we spend most of our days doing it. Teens spend an average of seven hours and twenty two minutes using screen media everyday. Even when we are consuming media through watching TV or being on our laptops, we're most likely on our screens too, thoughtlessly scrolling through people's best photos or opinions. We are constantly surrounded by other people's lives and being aware of others everyday life has become second nature. We have to snap ourselves out of the hyper-realities of others' lives on social media to concentrate on enjoying our own or to be productive.

We wouldn’t have the effort or time if we had to meet someone to find out all this information, being able to find masses of information about an individual through a few clicks has meant that social media has made us subconsciously nosier than we were in the past. Being nosy is now part of our everyday life.