So much of social media is so unnecessary

During his commencement address to the graduating Class of 2017 at Bryant University (May 20, 2017) General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt gave the audience advice that is very relevant to all of us. He told the graduates to “Go do things. Don't tweet so darn much.”

These remarks are from a corporate titan who is taking a venerable American conglomerate and reinventing it for our world's 21st century digital age.

Mr. Immelt struck a nerve and he is right! We as a global society spend too much time in love with our personal technology and the content we share on social media and websites.

I strongly feel our over dependence on living life through electronics has done much to negatively impact everyone, and feel these are root causes for the social challenges and political divides we're constantly grappling with.

Thanks to our dependency with social media, personal interaction is more focused on viewing ourselves as enemies with each other. It's reflected in lost reputations and values we once had vital stakes in. It's seen through not recognizing the significance of what people collectively offer to rebuild America. And, it's felt with the general feeling that we no longer have the standards of living or quality of life we have come to expect.

More than ever, our world is at a tipping point because social media has fueled a lack of belief, trust and respect for social institutions that shaped global society. Today, corporations, governments, social organizations and media, among others are facing the worst crisis confidence ever!

In particular, look at the many ongoing and most recent controversies playing on social media involving personal lives of news personalities, reality celebrities, politicians, athletes, the famous and infamous. One has to question if there is anything of value to what we reveal about ourselves on the web, all impacting whether the convergence of multimedia is well worth it. Even the overuse of Twitter by President Trump to attack the news media and entertainers, and the use of Facebook by known criminal offenders; have destroyed the luster of social media's growth to be a credible information resource.

Even in our own lives, living 24/7/365 putting all our personal business in cyberspace, most of us don't even realize the consequences we face once we post something. Consider these situations:

• Harvard University rejected some of the freshmen they accepted for the Class of 2021 because of inappropriate behavior they shared on their postings.

• We are investigating Russian influence over our past presidential election and whether our votes were compromised.

• Identity theft has now become the number one crime costing consumers billions of dollars and victims endless efforts of rebuilding their character because we document every aspect of our living on the web.

• The Internet has forever destroyed retail shopping, with over 9,600 stores that have closed to date this year, it is also hurting the livelihood of small businesses that invest in people and our communities.

• Most important, for Rhode Islanders, look at the state government's ongoing computer fiascoes, with UHIP, the new DMV system, and last year's online tax filing debacle, where returns and refunds were lost.

In the three decades that I have been self-employed, I have never used social media or have a web page. I feel that what's online is not important to me and my lifestyle (I'm in the communications business!) I'm very happy to have a life offline. And I'm one of those unique people who has done quite well in not having an electronic presence. I have relied upon good old fashioned face-to-face conversations, letter writing, telephone calls, word of mouth and actually getting out of my home and office to really appreciate true life experiences!

There is a whole generation that's missing out in life. We spend most of our days in relationships with tablet PC's and smartphones than we do with our own families. We have become addicted to social media for self gratification. We spend countless hours showing our best selfies, or showing what we just had for our meal, instead of showing the personal and collective potential we have to solve the needs we all face in our world. The Internet has made us less personal and less connected. We must all change that now.