The Dark Side of Social Media
Social media is a platform that connects people all over the world. We millennial want to know, read, understand and then speak our minds about everything. That is where social media comes into play. Social media is one of the biggest elements that we live with and cannot ignore. With just one click the world’s information is in front of us. Social media is a topic of controversy today with many people considering it a boon and some a bane. Most people feel that social media has destroyed human interaction at a rapid rate, but others feel that it is a blessing that has connected us to every part of the world, no doubt it has both positive and negative affects.
New generation social media in most regions acts as an addiction. This issue is complex as children under the age of 15 spend most of their time chatting with friends, updating their profile, bio, story, etc. Sometimes they even put up the current location on their ID’s which sometimes lead to extreme danger.
Recently, a report was published by an All-party parliamentary group (APPG), proposing that internet addiction could be classified as a disease and that research into its impact on mental health could be funded by a taxing social media companies. The paper includes surveys showing that 27% of children who spend three or more hours a day online show symptoms of mental ill-health, and called for “robust, longitudinal research” into the possibility of social media addiction.
Such issues are so common today that it is affecting the physical health of many innocent children. Other than this many unusual sites on social media influence kids to work for an illegal entities, leak personal information to strangers, sexual harassment, cyber bullying, body image issues, etc. Also, there is an increased ‘Fear of Missing out’ (FOMO) at an all-time high in youth because of social media. FOMO is not a disease but not less than any addiction. Social media is all about keeping us updated of what others are up to, and therefore the moment you aren’t updated, you fear that you have missed out on something of much value in your life. This is prevalent especially among the youth leading to mental health disorder and reduced ability to focus on one thing. Not just youngsters but adults too become victims and have these creepy ideas where they use fake wallpapers and clicked pictures with it just to show that they had gone to foreign trips in order to gain likes and comments. Nowadays, FOMO is a critical issue which should be looked up by the people. There are some suggestions that could help them to deal with it. In this fast-moving world, we need to keep it slow. Try to give enough time to things that you practice; be it eating, talking, walking or even sleeping. If you have recognized your fear of missing out and hence cannot stop your fingers from browsing through the social media updates, you need to switch off your phone. Believe in yourself stop comparing your life with one another. A person should always understand that everyone has a different life.
The ever-rising pressure of being on social networking sites and have an impressive profile is affecting the youth in a big way. Wrong use can lead to a bad conclusion. At a very young age parents gift their kid’s smartphones which later leads to such addiction giving such devices in the small hands which are made for playing games on the ground which steal their childhood and innocence. Undoubtedly, social media is an integral part of everyone’s life, but overdose of anything is not good. Social media can either increase or decrease productivity. Some examples can decrease productivity therefore, work with discipline and try to avoid social media distractions. Also, peer pressure continues to be an influence on a lot of users. This should be acknowledged by the people and certain seminars should be conducted by the school ,colleges and government which will take up the sessions that help teens to get rid of such sites. The studies show that users who are educated enough on social media understand how to use it effectively and safely, which is in fact why every user should research and get trained on the effective ways of using social media. Such effective ways could be instead of chatting with people you meet daily or strangers and updating profile after every single day, one should also use social media for knowledge. If one uses Social Media in the right way, it’s truly a great place to become enlightened on what’s happening around the world and what’s happening with the fields that especially interest you. For example, Quora is one of the most beautiful sites where people gain and give knowledge to the world, share their views. Instagram and Facebook are such platforms which if one wanted can use to the extent of their benefits.
But, again one should know how to use it.
Jhanvi Kashyap
Gargi College
