The Danger of Social Media

Social media has been with us for over a decade. I see babies in this generation holding iPads, iPhones and other technologies given by their parents to play their favorite games and watch their favorite TV show instead of having their brain stimulated by physical tools to play with, which can improve their mind for the better.

The problem of giving babies technologies is that it makes them addicted from a very early age. It’s a sad thing to do. Parents are unaware of the consequences they give to their children. Just because you are a parent doesn’t make you aware and intelligent. These parents are unaware of what they are doing and it damages our children.

It all starts from young tweens who become self-conscious about their bodies from an early age because they sit on their phones every day and click on pictures of women and men with the “perfect” body and face.

The pictures of their appearance have been airbrushed, photoshopped, and manipulated by technology. If they walk outside of their home, they will see hundreds of people with flaws that make them imperfectly perfect. It’s okay to be imperfectly perfect. No one is as unique as you.

Seeing people with the perfect look can make us go into depression because we compare our life with other people’s “flawless” life. We have been fooled into thinking other people have a problem-free life and we don’t. Don’t be manipulated by social media.

It seems as if our friends unfollowing us or not accepting our friend request is a much bigger deal than asking our friends how they are mental. We have become obsessed with gaining followers and getting comments and likes. We get euphoric by the followers, comments, and likes we gain as if it brings value to our character.

What’s the first thing we do when we wake up? Last thing we do when we go to bed? Check our phones.

Social media damages us severely and disconnects us from our family and friends. The moment we pick up our phones is like telling our loved ones subliminally that our phones are more important than them. It’s like our hands are chained to the smartphones. We jump out of bed as soon as we get a text message.

We get hungry and thirsty for more followers, likes, and comments to fulfill us. We feel poor when we don’t gain attention from strange people. It is as if we search for approval from others instead of approving ourselves for who we are.

People on social media appear as if they are truly happy and confident in who they really are. They are on vacation, they smile, they have a group of friends laughing with them, they go out with their partner. You would not have guessed that they are depressed. We are great at manipulating our images and whole social media page to fool people into thinking we are doing great.

I see couples eating at a restaurant with their eyes fixated on their smartphones instead of being in the moment with each other’s presence.

A family at home having their eyes focused on their technology gadgets.

The technologies disconnect us from reality and human contact. Most people won’t admit that they are addicted to social media.

Cyberbullying is also a huge online weapon tool used by young kids and adults to destroy people’s self-esteem as those behind the screen are not brave enough to bully the target in real life, unless they have an entourage with them to crush the target individual.

Social media has made people empty-headed, as kids are watching videos online that doesn’t make them smarter, become successful, and self-thinkers.

Social media can be used for useful work such as building a business, but most people use social media for the wrong reasons.

We should mute our phones and put them away when we are spending time with families and friends. You will liberate your mind and go back to being sociable with other people. Don’t let the technology gadgets control you. Control them by witnessing that your life, family, and friends are more valuable than your technology gadgets.

Originally published at https://www.mindfullfillmentality.com.