Is Social Media ONLY for Teenagers?

I came across an interesting article on HuffingtonPost (Post50) – “Is Social Media Turning Us into Teenagers?” by Mary Dell Harrington and Lista Endlich Heffernan (from Grown and Flown: Parenting from the Empty Nest)

It’s a very interesting piece on how Social Media makes us behave more like teenagers, and that there is not that much quality in users’ interaction on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

“Real life adults value friendships for their depth and quality, but social media is all about quantity. No one goes onto Facebook hoping for long heartfelt conversations with three close friends.”

Quality vs. quantity

The truth is that many social media platforms/applications were invented by fairly young people and at the beginning (which was few years ago) when social media was just introduced into our lives – the majority of young people were using it. But after few years there are more and more other age groups involved in online communication/interaction.
Authors of this HuffPost50 article are saying that adults/baby boomers can’t find/build a good quality conversation via social media platforms. I understand that there are many people who are focused on quantity on-line but if you prefer a good quality – you can find others on-line who prefer that as well. Social media is just another set of tools that help us to communicate between each-other, the quality of that communication depends on us.
Let’s look at the numbers, who use social media and internet in general. According to PEW Internet Center:

as of April 2012, 53% of American adults age 65 and older use the internet or email. 34% of internet users (65 and older) use social networking sites such as Facebook, and 18% o so on a typical day.

The number of older adults using social networking sites is rising (those numbers doubled since 2009). Social media is not only for young people – is for everyone who wants to embrace it and use it. Seniors, Baby Boomers or Older Adults in general discovered that they can use digital world to re-connect with their family members or get back in touch with old friends – and that’s just the beginning of their “internet journey”. Internet gives them more options to reinvent/enrich their lives.
Retirees who use the internet regularly are 20% to 28% less likely to be classified as depressed, according to a study provided by sociology professor Shelia Cotten (University of Alabama-Birmingham). Talking about quality: now is the time when grandchildren and grandparents can interact on-line at the same time, they can communicate faster and stay connected longer thanks to social media.

“Good friendships at any age are full of good conversation focused on shared interests. Conversations on Facebook and Twitter are often little more than a string of short, clever quips and jaunty banter heavily sprinkled with exclamation points.”

I disagree with that. I believe that we can do better than just “short quips”. Social media is just another set of tools, another form of communication. Like 30-40 years ago there was one land-line phone per household, now we can use smartphones – but the purpose of using both (then and now) is the same: we want to communicate with others. Different devices/technology but the same reason why we are using it. Letters or telegraphs in the past, now we send emails and tweets (Twitter). Different technology but the same purpose – communication. We decide what form of “language” we want to use (whether it’s a teenagers’ approach or more mature).

What to do to keep the quality on social media:

• local groups – there are a lot of local groups you might join (depends on your interests). Some of those group not only interact in the “off-line” world but also in the “on-line” world as well
• find new friends – younger and older (age doesn’t matter), because they can bring more different perspective for life
• you have a lot to share – your experience, your life story, your ideas and there are people who would love to know your story
• don’t forget about your old friends – some of them might live far away from you but you can use social media applications to stay in touch, have long conversations. It’s totally up to you.
• if you want a good quality/meaningful content build it on your own

Social media is a “live” system, and over the years we can see how it’s changing. Every so often there are new applications available, and we decide whether we want to use it or not. It’s up to you how you want to maintain your conversation on Social Media platforms. Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Youtube, Google+, and many more applications can help you to (re)connect with people no matter where they are. It’s up to you if you want to start a long conversation or a short one, if you want to send a tons of smile-faces or 1000 words comment. We decide if we behave more like teenagers on-line or not.

How about you? What is your experience?