Has technology, especially the Internet, helped relationships or harmed them?

I often see couples out in cafés who are too engrossed in their phones to actually speak to each other. We can speak to people on the other side of the planet yet at the same time we cannot hold a conversation with someone sitting right in front of us.

I've heard that's the biggest pet peeve of rastaurant workers is having to interrupt people on their phones to take orders and customers getting annoyed. Or having to stop to take pictures and then customers complaining they're taking too long to bring the food. I try to make it a point to put the thing away when I'm with others out eating or hanging out. And it's a huge distraction for parents. I find myself ignoring the kids to check on a post. I'm trying now to limit phone time to when they're sleeping or playing on their own. The saddest thing is going to a park and kids are on their phones instead of playing. I'm not letting my kids have phones until they move out, lol.

I am literally the only person I know of my age who doesn't use Instagram (and unfortunately, I'm not hyperbolizing), which pretty much completely alienates me from my generation. It'a virus.

I can't even stomach the site. Posts are either selfies with shitty 'filters' to make them look pretty or prehistoric reposts of a relatable pic or an edgy video, any of these almost completely covered with watermarks nobody cares about.

Of the social networks, I use only IMGFlip, YouTube and 4chan (Messenger is for contacting and information-sharing purposes only). I really don't need anything else.

I log into Facebook once in awhile to see who got married, had a baby or died since most people don't tell you in person anymore. I never post, certainly not pictures of me or my family (too many creeps out there) I detest instagram and twitter and YouTube is getting to be more of blogs in video form.

People seem to be obsessively seeking approval from strangers in the form of a like or comment. It's becoming a real sickness. Not to mention the persona they broadcast online is very rarely true to real life.

I think we may be hyper-socialized with all the social media sites and apps out here. Time we dial it back some?

I think we may be falsely-hyper socialized with all the social media sites.
Why?
remember socialization begins in infancy- it's verbal and nonverbal and tactile- not just written and visual.
So FB, Instagram and Twitter all produce pseudo-socialization at worse and partial socialization at best.
Dont get me wrong- social media has its benefits.
I get the benefits of sharing experiences and connecting to people who have other experiences/perspectives- that's pretty cool.
The problem comes if you never get the benefit of a real conversation- verbal and nonverbal interactions. up to 60-70% of communication is nonverbal- gestures, rate, tone, inflection, etc. it's one mayor way we get authenticity in our relationships.
The meme is a repost.. I didnt make it but i bet someone did after all the privacy problems/leaks started happening on fb.

You make an excellent point

-Thank you. And i agree with you-time to dial it back some. signed-a recovering social media addict.
; ). LOL approx 40days FB free. 100+ days Twitter/Instagram free.

5 years w/o Facebook and Twitter. Don't miss it anymore. 👍🏽

wow..5 years is impressive. wish id done it then. but i guess it's like smoking..the benefits of quitting start within hours of quitting...so it's not too late.

:-)

its helped meat least.I get really bad social anxiety and have a bad stutters being online has allowed me to gain some level of confidence.Ive made really good friends, and they give me self esteem boosts when I need them because my family wont, and my 'real life' friends cant do that, because they dont exist, mostly because my social anxiety makes people avoid me.