We are connected to the world's citizens majorly through the platforms provided to us by social media. It has been proven that statistically, 2020 isn't the worst year we've witnessed. The affairs are just being documented more now than ever before, and social media plays a chief role in making that possible. As most of our lives revolve around these applications, the consequences have come out as a bane for the majority, even when we don't realize it.
Here's how social media has silently been impacting our lives :
1. Questioning one's self-worth - With the immense proliferation of social media users, it's easily accessible to most kids below the age of 18. Social media usage has repeatedly registered higher feelings of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, especially among teenagers. This often results in doubting our worth, usually based upon likes and comments on one's posts.
Given the fact that everyone is free to drop their opinion, no matter how informed or ill-informed it might be, can unknowingly impact someone's mental state of being even in the short-run. Many teenagers tend to seek validation and derive their self-worth from strangers on social media, which could have an unintentional yet malign effect upon the user.
2. Distortion of reality - It's imperative to realize that what a person chooses to portray on their feed is a scintilla of their life and not the outright truth. The connotation of what we perceive as 'real' might only be a fragment of factual veracity.
Even if we try to detect what's missing out of our feed, most of our real life is the answer we'd get frequently. The principal reason behind its toxicity is that it tends to mold our minds' reality. It usually is evident in the forms of comparison that further lead to negativity.
3.The high degree of commercialization - The focal point of social media has shifted from easing user experience to intensified commercialization levels. By keeping the records of our data, it's often sold off to the third-parties.
As the current scams of Facebook suggest, privacy seems like just a myth we've been fed. There exists an industry that now sells likes, comments, and followers to anyone willing to pay. Social media is now a market place first, and then a platform for us to connect.
Social isolation has only worsened the situation for those who are suffering through this cycle of toxicity. As people are stuck within the four walls, their usage of the standard four social media applications have been increased drastically. The question that arises here is; how do we stay on social media and not let it affect us?
The answer is simple: an excess of anything is unhealthy. There need to be constant efforts on our behalf to not overdose upon its usage. Be it limiting one's hours per day, or not using it for a couple of days in a week, there's an appalling need for us to be conscious of where we lack. Nothing in the world can control our minds if we don't give it the power to do so. This is only possible if we choose to be reflective of our selves.
To resume, it's nearly unfeasible to eradicate social media out of our lives for most of us. Especially during the pandemic, it's the only approach through which we get to feel closer to the ones we can't meet daily. We ought to put intentional efforts to reduce its impact upon us.
By knowing the contrast between social media and reality, accepting and appreciating the differences, realizing when to put the phone down, and living the moment instead of recording it, we may alleviate its bleak impact.
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