Going no where fast

Going no where fast is a saying I have heard used to describe several people as it relates to their prospects for the future.  Usually it is about their abilities as a productive member of society or the workplace.  Now, I am starting to think this applies to social media and it's impact on the world as it relates to really making a fundamental change.  Yes, social media has an impact but not a fundamental change, like the creation of the Internet.  (Al Gore right?) 

Two of my children our now in high school and they use instagram, twitter, facebook(although I have been told this is way not cool anymore) plus they text and use facetime.  Even though they have all these tools, they and their classmates still do the same silly pranks, laugh at the same juvenile jokes and pretty much do exactly what I and my classmates did in high school.  Yes, many times the avenue for all of this is way different (posting a silly photo on instagram instead of on the hallway bulletin board) but the reaction and audience response is just the same.  Dating (which I have forbidden my high school daughter to do - we will see how long that lasts - and why am I OK with my son dating?) is the same awkward, silly, process and not really any easier with all the tools available.

I say this not to mean that social media should be ignored or it doesn't provide value. I just don't think it will (or has)  make the fundamental impact that say the development of automobiles did in a horse and buggy world.  Yes, if you want to protest a company, it is really easier to get a larger audience but I was in college during the anti-apartheid times and student activism on college with rallies and demonstrations were pretty large using archaic posters, phone calls and word of mouth.  Social media doesn't really make the true activist any more committed, it just allows them more opportunities to express their thoughts.

Maybe it is too harsh to say going no where fast.  Perhaps I should rephrase it and say that social media gurus are going no where fast.