I’ve been following some of the headlines that have been highlighting the changes associated with social media and, in particular, the effect on the younger generation.
Latest news tells us Facebook is now being called ‘Uncle Facebook’ amongst the young with Snapchat becoming the number one social media channel for the young.
What a fast-moving world we live in with the Facebook revolution faltering after only 14 years of existence.
It is not all bad for Mr Zuckerberg as the WhatsApp social media communication channel is doing well, especially amongst the young.
Seems the $11 billion spent buying WhatsApp was a good buy after all.
At the same time Facebook is going through troubled times as the use of social media as a way of communicating continues to grow.
Latest research shows that the ongoing decline in face to face interactions continues with social media taking an ever more dominant role.
Clicking a button seems to be more attractive than making the effort to arrange to meet someone to enjoy the fun of getting together.
We have created a completely new human behaviour, with many of the younger generation spending up to seven hours a day online.
Some of us are so obsessed with the tool we hold in our hands that we check it up to 200 times a day.
Believe it or believe it not, some of us even set the alarm to go off in the middle of the night to check on what messages have been received during the couple of hours whilst asleep.
There is no doubt this dramatic change in communication has profound implications for the future.
As it becomes ever more embedded, we start to see the demise of traditional ways of socialising and communicating.
I can still remember growing up with all the family in one room watching the television together. We laughed, cried and shrieked together as we enjoyed something as a family.
This has been confined to history and latest surveys show that the icon of British broadcasting, the BBC, now has most of the regular viewers in the over fifties age group.
We cannot turn the clock back after the genie is out of the bottle and we are all best served to embrace the change rather than fight it.
I do add a health warning though.
Social media and all the benefits it brings must be something we manage and when some of us become addicts we need to treat this the same way as we deal with those addicted to cigarettes, drugs or alcohol.
Anything that becomes an obsession, that takes over our lives, must be treated accordingly.
Finally, the television presenter Kirstie Allsopp has defended her decision to smash the iPads of her 10 and 12-year-old sons after they broke her screen-time rules.
She has received an onslaught of abuse regarding her decision and has responded as follows.
“If anything makes the case for keeping young people away from screens, it is the abuse I have received this week.
“The viciousness with which some people have responded is all out of proportion to the alleged offence.”
Gordon is the former president and chief executive of BMMI. He can be reached at gordonboyle@hotmail.com