How Social Media Is Making People Less Social

Human survival has witnessed humongous technological advancement. Three decades ago, we communicated with our colleagues and family through postcards and letters. But then, our way of communication changed from letters to emails through the new world of internet.

Since the advent of internet, our lives have become more fascinating and compelling than earlier. Internet made everything effortless, whether it be our studies or something else that is difficult to find in books. Through social networking, our ties with our next of kin have become much more intense than they used to be.

Some social networking sites were founded on the mechanism they would connect people staying far away or travelling around the globe. Through these sites, people could be in touch with each other irrespective of the time and place. However, as everything else, social networking also has a negative and positive aspect. Despite uplifting the standard of living of people, it has started anxiety among users, tumultuously plundering our lives. This could also be true that social networking has had more negative effects than positive.

To make it easier to understand, let take the example of the most popular social networking websites i.e., Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat.

With the advent of the Facebook, the youth that is supposed to be the power of any nation, is now much more interested in gossip and late night conversation on Facebook rather then on physically meeting colleagues and friends. They spend hours and hours on chatting. They have lost their ability to utilise their energy in pursuing their career. A small faction of the youth actually knows the relevance of social networking websites but a large portion is unable to figure out when they are being brain washed into materialism arising from the virtual world.

They put their heads into the number of likes and followers than about the issues trending on the websites and they believe their fabricated lives more and more. This mess has got students nurtured over years, addicted to it. They waste their potential while they scroll down their Facebook newsfeed and desire to become celebrities on it.

For more efficient means of enjoyment and amusement, they are interested in possessing electronic gadgets, spending thousands of rupees on iPads, laptops and smartphones.

We cannot ignore the truth, for whosoever has tasted its pseudo-pleasure, Facebook has retained the possession over their minds. Every second person in this world is addicted to it. As soon as the day begins, what every person on Facebook does is to check other people’s status messages and see if anyone new has started following them. Research says that the addiction to social media is higher than the level of addiction to cigarettes and alcohol. Meanwhile, some conspiracy theories claim it to be a Zionist plot and the conspiracy of the corporate world. Usually every person finds their bliss on Facebook. The following limits are sky-rocketing on a day to day basis. Facebook is the largest social network in the world with 1.86 billion active users in  which 1.15 billion are the mobile daily active users.

Followed by Facebook, Instagram has a fine position in the social media market. Those who tired of Facebook, shifted their stands to Instagram. This site has various modifications like sharing photos i.e., posting your photos and following other people while having followers of your own. More importantly, it has one remarkable feature that Facebook doesn’t provide, no one can download any photo from anywhere. With this change, one feels their private space more protected than that on Facebook. However, this doesn’t affect Facebook’s market because the users previously only on Facebook now have an additional account on Instagram. So from now, the hours dedicated to social media in an individual’s life increase since, instead of maintaining one account, they now maintain two.

This legacy has been carried forward by SnapChat, taking up the remaining space left for the victims’ “me time”. Snapchat has secured its importance in the heart of social media victims in such a way that people have difficulty in quitting social networks because of FOMO (fear of missing out). I was appalled when I observed that snap chat is emphatically used for the sake of publicity in the virtual world. This is a matter of concern as I have talked about only three prominent social media networking sites. We cannot anticipate the amount of addiction for the rest of other like Whatsapp, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr and Telegram.

When technology didn’t have deep roots, we were fascinated about it and now when it is rooted in our very minds we find ourselves in quandary with regards to our bliss and happiness. When the Internet was in a fostering stage we found pleasure in it, but now that it has been nurtured completely we are trying to get away from it, finding escape somewhere in nature for peace and harmony in our lives. It has made anxiety a way of life for civilians.

No one can be left out from this drift because almost everyone has joined at least one of the social networks. It is time that we take a break from all the mess and chaos and ask ourselves, what are we trying to get from this intangible virtual world? Why we are wasting our precious life in creating a meaningless society? Is it really worth it to continue doing whatever we have been doing since a long period of time? Shouldn’t we only limit ourselves to enjoying social media rather than be a addicted to it ?

Before raising our voices against atomic bombs, we should understand what really is a weapon of mass destruction.

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Photo credits: Flickr/Blogtrepreneur