What happens when you DON’T use social media?

Hyves, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, you name it! Can you think of anyone who doesn't use it?

Nowadays it's hard to find anyone who is not a member of a social networking site. Some people use only one type while other people are active on all sites. Some use it occasionally, others use it excessively.

It seems to me that there are more and more excessive users of social networking sites. When I look around, all my friends are active on social networking sites, some more than others.

I consider myself to be a moderate user of social media. I check my Facebook, Twitter and Hyves every now and then, but not on a daily basis.
There are times that I forget to check them for several days or weeks -huh? Yes, there are still people who forget social media!-. But when I do, I sometimes notice that I'm missing out on things. It is however not in my nature (yet), to post personal tweets or to check my Facebook every day. That is actually quite strange, since my study is all about new media. Perhaps I'm a bit old-fashioned in this area, but I don’t need to be a social media fanatic.

It makes me wonder though, can it actually have bad consequences when you aren't an active social media user?
Are friendships maintained through the internet stronger than face-to-face friendships? And are you obliged to maintain your friends via the internet?

I have tried to search the internet for some more discussion but couldn’t find any. Perhaps I’m the only one, or I didn’t use the right keywords ;) When I look at other blogs, I see for instance that Sandra is also struggling with the use of Twitter.

It's clearly important to maintain friendships via the internet. New friendships may arise, or you can interact with your existing friends. I however use this 'maintaining' especially for people I rarely meet face to face. The availability and usage of all the new media makes me feel like people are socially obligated to participate and as far as I’m concerned, that’s not the point! I think it’s up to you to what extent you use it. And if it’s not in your nature, you simply don’t have to. I feel good as an “moderate user” and as long as I do, that’s fine!