Once upon a time, there was a brief outage on some social media platforms. It got fixed. The end. On the face of it, kind of a boring story.
But the widespread attention given to the blanking of suggests another, perhaps less obvious tale: the one that shows that social media platforms, like the books or newspapers or insert-medium-here of other times in history, matter more than just being entertaining pastimes.
Wait, you mean those posts from that cousin you rarely see, sharing updates from her kids91裸聊视频� lives? That reel from the influencer, introducing you to a culture or bit of knowledge you never knew? That photo collage you put up as a memorial to a loved one whose loss you91裸聊视频檙e grieving? The back-and-forth debate between people on your feed trying to one-up each other on topics that interest you?
Yes. The technologies might be recent. But the things we use them for? That taps into something age-old: Humans are wired to love stories. Telling them. Listening to them. Relating to each other and our communities through them. And, of late, showing them to the world piece by piece through our devices 91裸聊视频� so much so that one of Instagram91裸聊视频檚 primary features is called, simply, 91裸聊视频淪tories.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淥ur narrative capacity is 91裸聊视频� one of the best ways through which we are able to connect with one another,91裸聊视频� says Evynn McFalls, vice president of marketing and brand at the NeuroLeadership Institute, a consultancy that incorporates neuroscience into its corporate work. 91裸聊视频淥ur brains like stories because it makes it easier for us to understand other people, other circumstances.91裸聊视频�
SOCIAL MEDIA AS A COMMUNITY OF STORIES
In his book 91裸聊视频淭he Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human,91裸聊视频� scholar Jonathan Gottschall says this: 91裸聊视频淭he human imperative to make and consume stories runs even more deeply than literature, dreams and fantasy. We are soaked to the bone in story.91裸聊视频�
And in these times, social media is so often where they91裸聊视频檙e told 91裸聊视频� whether in pictures, videos, memes, text threads or mashups of all four. People can get news and information (and OK, yes, misinformation) there, learn and possibly sympathize with others91裸聊视频� plights, see things in ways that help us make sense of the world. We tell our own stories on them, make connections with others that might not exist in any other space.
In many ways, these social spaces are where we do 91裸聊视频渉uman.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 almost impossible for many people, especially in the United States, to think about their lives and communication without thinking about social media,91裸聊视频� says Samuel Woolley, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin91裸聊视频檚 School of Journalism and Media.
So when they91裸聊视频檙e disrupted? Uh-oh. Threads of connection can disappear. Endorphin-generating activities get cut off. Routines 91裸聊视频� for better and for worse 91裸聊视频� are interrupted, and and storytelling hiccup and falter.
91裸聊视频淥utside of the trivial nature of these platforms, they91裸聊视频檝e also really morphed over the last 15 years into an advocacy space,91裸聊视频� says Imani Cheers, associate professor of digital storytelling at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 91裸聊视频淭hose types of outages can really cause disruption in the passing and service of information.91裸聊视频�
It can also ratchet up the impact if the interruption comes at a moment when communication and information are perceived to be needed the most, Woolley notes: In the United States, the outage corresponded with the moments many were heading to the polls for Super Tuesday.
91裸聊视频淓ven though the recent outage only lasted a handful of hours for most people, it still resulted in a lack of access to the news,91裸聊视频� Woolley says. 91裸聊视频淎nd that91裸聊视频檚 a problem.91裸聊视频�
A CREEPING SENSE OF UNEASE?
After the outages happened Tuesday, Andy Stone, Meta91裸聊视频檚 head of communications, on X, formerly known as Twitter. 91裸聊视频淲e apologize for any inconvenience,91裸聊视频� he wrote. But for some, it was more visceral than simple inconvenience. Their stories and their online lives were at stake.
When Taylor Cole Miller, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, first realized that he wasn91裸聊视频檛 getting into his Facebook account Tuesday, his initial concern was security 91裸聊视频� that he had somehow been hacked.
Shortly afterward came creeping panic: What if he had lost almost two decades of his Facebook existence, including some connections with people he only had over the platform?
91裸聊视频淚 hesitate to say that my life flashed before my eyes, because that91裸聊视频檚 just so overwrought,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淏ut the fact of the matter is that as someone who91裸聊视频檚 been on Facebook for 20 years, a significant amount of my life is archived91裸聊视频� there.
91裸聊视频淢any of the ways that I connect with people is merely through Facebook. What happens if poof, it just goes away really fast? What does that mean for who I am as a person and how I interact with other people?91裸聊视频�
That type of reaction about losing something that91裸聊视频檚 so part of the fabric of one91裸聊视频檚 day speaks to the power of story to connect us, says Melanie Green, a professor in the department of communication at the University of Buffalo. And, not incidentally, to the platforms that amplify those stories.
91裸聊视频淗umans have a need to belong. We91裸聊视频檙e social species, our survival often depends on being part of groups,91裸聊视频� she says. 91裸聊视频淪tories can help us feel that sense of belongingness.91裸聊视频�
READ ALSO:
