How have smartphones changed our lives, and what role do social networks play?

The increasing use of smartphones has changed the way people socialize and communicate, as SNS use has become more commonplace. Various SNS platforms are not only delivering information, but also helping individuals fulfill their expressive needs and form social relationships. However, there are also dysfunctions such as personal information leakage. Social media is evolving, and its use depends on human wisdom.

 

As the world heats up with the smartphone war, what are the biggest life changes we have experienced due to the emergence of smartphones? With more than 30 million smartphone users in Korea, social media is no longer an unfamiliar term, even for adults. In fact, research shows that the average smartphone user spends 1.1 hours of their 1.6 hours online each day on SNS. SNS, which stands for Social Networking Service, is an evolving ecosystem that has now expanded to mobile, and the ability to invite friends to join has led most smartphone users to step into it, whether they knowingly or unknowingly. In real life, about 70% of people glued to their smartphones on the subway are on social media.
According to the latest statistics, social media users are primarily accessing it through their smartphones. As of 2024, about 82% of the world’s social media users will be using smartphones to access social media. However, the concept of social media existed before smartphones were available on mobile devices. Today’s short messages on KakaoTalk or Line, which are forms of social media, may seem indistinguishable from texts that could be sent on feature phones. However, SNS goes beyond the simple transmission of information and encompasses the concept of satisfying an individual’s need for expression, establishing social relationships with others, and maintaining friendships. Unlike community services such as cafes and clubs on the web, SNS is also called one-person media or one-person community because it centers on the individual user.
Today, under the basic concept of SNS, which is a medium that connects social networks, each service provides various functions other than its main purpose, such as voice calls and games. As a result, the boundaries of the concept of SNS are expanding, but even in this convergence process, various SNS are being released with their own characteristics, especially by sticking to one function.
‘Cyworld’, which originated on the web in Korea, is focused on its function as an individual’s journal, and can be said to be closed because it allows users to upload daily photos, diaries, videos, etc. and share them with mutual acquaintances who have become friends. Facebook, which originated from Stanford University in the United States and now has more than 500 million daily active users worldwide, allows users to upload a variety of personal information, but is more open in the way it is shared than Whatsapp. However, both are categorized as “closed social networks” in that you’re stuck with your existing offline connections.
On the other hand, there are also “open social networks,” where you make connections primarily online. Twitter, which allows users to write short tweets in 140 characters or less and share photos and other links, but is open and subscription-based, has the largest number of users worldwide. There are also Foursquare, which shares information about a place based on its location, Instagram, which communicates based on photos, and MySpace, which allows people with similar interests to talk in comments.
On the other hand, there are also services that allow users to connect with a specific small group of people, targeting users who are tired of using various SNSs and feeling overly open. Although they can be said to be largely closed, they are called ‘PNS’ (Personal Networking Service) because while many of the aforementioned services are growing rapidly based on the premise of openness and expansion, PNSs are built on the basis of limited communication functions due to personal fatigue and privacy issues. Examples include ‘Path’, which limits registration to 50 people, and ‘Between’, which is aimed at couples but can be used with only one acquaintance.
While these various SNSs were initially focused on socializing, they are now adding features such as games, shopping, and donations. This is due to the fact that SNSs have a very large user base, so they are attracting attention as a major promotional channel for companies, and companies that operate SNSs are also trying to find revenue models other than advertising. In addition, when SNSs are connected to trusted users, they share and receive the information they need, just like using a portal to find information.
The rise of social media has brought about many positive changes. Due to their greater accessibility and faster dissemination than traditional media, we no longer receive information organized at a set time, but can access political, economic, cultural, and other content at any time and easily reproduce and spread it. This purely functional aspect of social media has led to it being referred to as a new civic communication platform. In the case of saving lives by getting blood for patients in urgent need of transfusion, and in the case of political and economic issues, the communication is quick, forming a huge discourse in an instant and affecting reality.
On the other hand, the dysfunctions behind the net functional aspects of SNS are also attracting attention. There are many cases of damage caused by personal information leakage, invasion of privacy, and spreading unverified rumors and myths. More recently, as they have been allowed to be used in elections, concerns have been raised that slander and misrepresentation will cloud voters’ judgment. There are also examples of students suffering from verbal abuse and marginalization as the phenomenon of bullying has moved online.
Social media is currently in a process of development and evolution. But at the end of the day, people are the ones who use them. It remains to be seen which of the various services and features will survive and which will disappear. However, we need to have the wisdom to use all these useful inventions wisely so that humanity can better communicate, harmonize, and develop.