“Social media is training us to compare our lives instead of appreciating everything we are. No wonder why everyone is always depressed.” - Bill Murray
Social media has become a huge part of our lives, whether we want to accept it or not. We all spend hours scrolling through WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and many more. This has been even more amplified in the pandemic as people, especially teenagers are stuck at home with not much to do. For the most part social media is actually very useful to keep in touch with your family, friends, colleagues, etc. But if you are not careful with its usage because if you spend too much time on social media, it will increase your anxiety, stress, and may even cause depression. We are all extremely social creatures, and we like being connected to others, even if it online. If we are well-connected to people, and have healthy relationships, we would have good self-worth, not be lonely etc. On the other hand, not having any social support in the form of emotional connections with people is seriously not good for your emotional and mental health. As I mentioned before, we all are way too familiar within our comfort zones, and therefore scroll through the same social media apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. because it is easy to talk to people on there. As opposed to seeing people face to face, you can just send them a message. It is the nature of these apps that they are made to be addictive, so that you cannot stop going through them, and increase your screen time. This, ironically, makes you feel more isolated, disconnected, and lonely because you are not able to have face to face interactions.
Positive Aspects
There are a lot of positive aspects of using social media. These are:
Keeping in touch
You can stay connected with family, friends, and colleagues all over the globe. The accessibility and usability of social media has made it much easier to communicate with people in less than a second. If you feel like you really miss someone you can just call them via Zoom, or other such video call apps.
Seeking friends
Social media has also got so many apps now that help you look for new friends and relationships. You do not even have to move out of your house to meet them first because you can select a person, and then choose to meet them.
Networking
Helps in building up connections and networking for career prospects. With apps like LinkedIn and others, it has become easier to send job applications to required places, and you at times also get to see what job requires which credentials, so that you can send in an application accordingly.
Send support
Able to support important causes, donations, and charities. If we want to help out for a cause it is very easy to do so because there are a lot of places to donate, or file petitions when you deem to be necessary.
Spread awareness
Able to raise awareness for serious problems in the society. In case of any social issue, you can raise your concerns via social media, and demand for justice, and inform others all over the world about what is happening.
Creativity
Good platform to showcase creativity. Social media has also become a place where artistic people can freely express themselves by sharing various forms of art such as drawings, music, dancing, and many more.
Knowledge on fingertips
Easy access to tons of information and research. If you want to know about anything, you can just use Google to search it up, and it will lead you to the required links.
These are some of the most prominent positive aspects of social media, and is actually many of the reasons as to why people still continue to use social media.
Negative Aspects
There are equally a lot of negative aspects of social media, these are:
Insecurity
On social media, everything looks tailor-made and perfect, and this may make people insecure about their looks, economic status, social life etc. People only upload the good parts of their lives which results in everything looking perfect because the struggles are not shown.
Isolation
Social media can make you isolate yourself from the real world because you get a lot of temporary happiness from scrolling through all these apps. This can be detrimental for your mental health, as it can lead to various mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, etc.
Fear of missing out
Although FOMO has existed for a long time, the internet has amplified its effects, as if you were to see a person having fun on their Instagram at a party, you would like to be included as well. FOMO can be the reason you use social media even more because you want instant updates on what the other people are doing.
Cyberbullying
Social media is very dangerous when cyberbullying is involved as it can scar the affected person for life. Since a lot of people post their private lives on social media, they are also risked at having their sensitive details such as addresses, workplaces, phone numbers, and much more exposed. Rumors' can also be spread easily.
Self-centeredness
Heavy usage of social media can make you self-absorbed or self-centered. You will begin to think that everyone cares to know about you, or they are out there to hate on you. This will hinder your ability to form real life close connections because your perception of people will be clouded.
This constant usage of social media turns into a loop of negativity which is very difficult to be stopped. Some other issues that also can occur are sleep deprivation, mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, etc.
Reducing Usage
Social media is very addictive, so it is always good if you reduce your usage of it. There are some ways to do it:
Use timers for Apps
There are different apps and software, that you can use to reduce your screen time. Various apps like Instagram also have settings in which you can put in your designated hours of usage. After your time is up the app will be locked so you can no longer use it. If you are even more committed, you can also delete the distracting apps from your device, or switch off notifications.
Hobbies
Try to make yourself get into a hobby which does not involve staring at a screen. You can start slowly and spend one hour every day doing that hobby. Once you have adjusted, you can try doing it for longer periods of time. Some hobbies involve writing, singing, playing an instrument, drawing etc.
Keep your phone away
While sleeping, make sure you either switch off your phone, or keep it in another room so that you do not stay up for longer, and ruin your sleep cycle. Staring at a screen for long periods of time is also not good for your vision.
Socialize
This one is difficult to do in the pandemic, but once the pandemic goes away, try your best to socialize, and meet up with your friends.
Self-reflect
Keeping away from social media is a good time to think about your own self and your desires without there being a distraction. You can think about all the good and bad experiences, you have had in your life without having it be scrutinized on social media. Also be mindful that social media is not an accurate representation of real life.
Takeaway Message
To conclude, social media is good in moderation only, and you should make sure that it does not take over your life.
References
au.reachout.com
verywellmind.com
saintbelford.com.au
helpguide.org
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