Social Media is One Big Party

When I grew up, when you went to a party, you sneaked out of your house, gather your friends in the neighborhood and go to whatever friend's house where the parents went away and play some great 80s music.    The social aspect was calling everyone on your analog phone or leaving written notes around the neighborhood about the big party happening that night.  You play some shiny new music CDs and learn about what is going on by talking to people in person.   You even find out about that surprise relationship again in person, seeing the two lovebirds getting chummy in the corner at the party.   When the party is over, everyone went home and got on the phone with their friends until the wee hours.  This was the 1980s going into the 1990s.  Ah, those days, so simple, and full of surprises.

Fast forward to 2014.  Things are getting complicated.   You got Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Facetime, Skype and any other social platform of the month.  The whole idea of a party is let's hide out in our basement, and do group texts on our iPhones, Driods, Windows phone, iPads or any other mobile device.  Your party is now online instead of at someone's house.  Everyone's idea of a hangout, is Google Hangout.   The music, let's fire up some Spotify or Pandora and share some tunes online... again not in person.  You want to meet someone, send a picture via Instagram and do some Snapchat.  How many teenagers have a special someone that they have never met in person?

But look on the bright side.  You can have an international party with people all over the globe sharing music and pictures from the comfort in your home in your jamas using social media.   You can play and video record a song using your iPad and post it on YouTube for your friends on the other side of the world to see.  Social Media has brought a new concept of the party.

So let's have a party this Saturday night and bring your mobile devices.  Let's fire up some Pandora playing some processed EDM music and text and tweet each other while in the same room about how much they like the person next to them without actually looking at them and talking to them.     If only the 1980s party concept came back.   Would social media still be as relevant?