Do you ever feel
that you are spending more than the intended amount of time on your Social
Media Platforms? That you really just opened Instagram to reply to a message
but find yourselves scrolling through endlessly?
Social Media
Addiction is much more addictive than Cigarettes. This addiction is not just
among the Youth or the Kids, but also among elders, parents these days are
majorly influenced and glued to their Social Media Handles. This is what kids
see and learn, that sticking to their phones is perfectly alright as their
parents are doing the same thing.
“We
don’t have a choice on whether we DO Social Media, the question is how well we
do it.” This statement given by a well-known
American Author, Erik Qualman is a necessary question that we urgently need to
ask ourselves and introspect basis that.
While Social
Media is one of the significant man-made blessings to us all, most importantly
during the COVID Situation when we can’t go out but have to sit home all day
long and Social Media is our only way out, but like every blessing, that too
has a flip side to it. While Social Media is now becoming a platform for so
many talented people, it is damaging each individual at an alarming rate,
imperatively to our mental health and so we need to throw down the gauntlet.
So,what are the
symptoms of this addiction? A few scenarios could be –
·
We are constantly glued
to our phone.
·
We start ignoring real
life scenarios and people around us.
·
Wequit our hobbies and rather
just watch videos of them.
·
We check our
notifications every few minutes
·
Real time meetings feel
awkward to us and texting, snapchatting and video calling feels comfortable to us
·
We are Aloof from
outdoor activities
The worse impact
Social Media has is on our Mental health –
o Compare
and Despair Attitude: When someone posts a
picture or a status update, and gets a copious amount of likes and comments, we
end up comparing their pictures to our own and start finding shortcomings in
ourselves bringing out our despair attitude. What we don’t understand is we are
all beautiful in our own way, a few pictures, likes; comments cannot be a measure
of anyone’s beauty. Also, we don’t know if the person has used filters or not,
the picture could have been highly edited.
o Self-Doubt/Self-Consciousness/Underconfident/Low
Self-Esteem:
When we are so used to getting likes and comments, one negative comment
is enough to bring us down. If someone comments about our nose or lips or ears
or anything, we delete the picture and either immensely edit it or click
another one hiding that particular body part. We are then constantly aware of
our looks. Also, when we get fewer likes, we feel inadequate.
o Loneliness/FOMO:
While we are constantly checking people’s status updates, we see someone
chilling on a beach or partying, or travelling. This gives us a feeling of
loneliness and that we are missing out on major life events if we are not doing
something as exciting.
o Opinionated:
In the current times, Social Media is capable of controlling our thoughts,
given that everyone can now post what they feel is right, we are easily swayed
toward that thought without even checking the facts.
But how do we
end up checking our notifications constantly? How do we end up glued to our
phones?
Well, for this
we are thankful to the people working behind the Social Media Platforms for
whom “we and our attention” is the product they are selling, and hence, theyconstantly
keep a tab on our activities. What kind of posts we like, how much time we
spend on each post, whose profile do we frequently check, who do we message
regularly and other such things.
While we are
watching a video, they bring to us more similar video suggestions by noting the
time spent on each post. They make sure to send us notifications regarding the
people whose profile we regularly check. If we are inactive for a long time,
they end up sending us some notification that would catch our attention by some
social media site be it pinterest, facebook, Instagram, twitter, linked.in,
tumbler, etc.
All these Social
Media platforms are constantly at work to grab our attention because each of
them is in a competition with the other.
We can’t let
them win, can we? So, the need of the hour calls for some major steps that we
must follow:
·
Digital Detox
–
When
we realize that we are stuck to our phones, we must keep a tab on our Screen
Time and detox accordingly. Maybe download apps that can track our usage of
each app and put up reminders to stop using our phones.
·
Parental Check
–
Parents should research about the social media website beforehand, making sure there is no content that needs to be censored, and if there is an age limit set upon that, it is being followed. There can be time limits decided among the members of the family as to the duration of time spent on the phones. Specially, in case of minors, parents should be aware of what the kids are doing on their social media handles and should keep a check on them. Mobile phones at the dining table, in the bedrooms, during family time should be locked away in a safe box.
So, let’s not be
a prey to these People by taking the appropriate measures.
Also, always
bear in mind that everyone is beautiful in their own way and nobody should be
compared on the basis of what they post. It’s what in our heart and how we
behave in our life with others that matters the most. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
OUR OWN HAPPINESS AND PEACE. JUST LIKE ALL FINGERS ARE NOT EQUAL, ALL OF US AND
OUR LIVES ARE NOT THE SAME.
Meenu Ahuja
About Author: Meenu is a Commerce graduate with an experience of more than 2.5 years in the same field. She is passionate about mental health, Social Psychology and Stigmas with an aspiration to become a Counselor after doing her Masters in Psychology. She loves reading, writing and is a fan of Sitcoms and movies.
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