Our phone buzzes and we quickly grab it in anticipation of what notifications might appear on the screen. It might be a text from a friend or it could be a comment a like or a follow request and a sense of excitement rushes over us.
Social media are interactive platforms that allow people to share, create and exchange various information, ideas and one’s experiences. But like a coin social media also has 2 sides to it. Social networking is making us antisocial in unintended ways. It is absolutely true that it has given us a platform to connect to a wider set of people and enhanced our interaction skills, it has helped us connect to our friends and family far away from us. But these all points look good only when written about. The truth is people should have been more socially connected due to social media but here in fact it has taken the opposite way. People are starting to believe that being on social media 24x7 means being more connected to the outside world but this is harming their relations with their family, friends and most importantly themselves.
According to the studies and surveys in US through 2009 to 2017 the depression rate increased to 60% among children aged 14–17. It was also seen that for every 10% rise of negative experiences on social media there was a 13% rise in feeling lonely. We tend to be more active on social media as it gives us a sense of mingling with people, it makes us comfortable with interactions without having to sacrifice our personal space or having face to face conversations. Another study shows that almost 37% of children aged 12–17 have been bullied online. More than half of the LGBTQ+ community has faced online harassment and 23% of students have been directly or indirectly a part of cyber bullying.
There are many ways to decrease our social media consumption firstly and most importantly is to be aware of yourself, identify the reasons of cause either depression, loneliness, boredom, needing to vent and so on so forth. Once you know the cause it’s easier to deal with it. Filter your friend list. Following people on social media who are important to you means more targeted information and less distractions on your timeline. Let us all try to be more social in real life than being pretentious on social media platforms before we forget how to talk and remember only how to type.
