SOCIAL MEDIA

Why You Should Enjoy Social Media But Not Get Addicted To it

Spend time on social media but do not spend too much time on it

Why social media?

Are you on social media? It is hard to say no today. The choices are many. From Facebook to Instagram, Snap Chat, Tick Tock, Twitter, YouTube, Whatsapp, Pinterest to Linkedin, you can choose any of them.

The most likely choice of people is to be where the friends are active. Off late Instagram, Snapchat, and Tick Tock have become very popular and Whatsapp is universally accepted as the WhatsApp university now for everyone to chat and share their emotions.

What do people do on social media sites? On social media sites, people do network and share ideas, digital photos and videos, posts, and give information about themselves and their events with other people within their social network.

We can say that why people want to be on social media are that most people use social media sites to stay in touch with their friends and acquaintances, and also to stay updated on what is going on in the world.

My little granddaughter loves music videos on YouTube. She can watch the videos endlessly and my son is very watchful that she takes her usual breaks. She loves Instagram too and tells me about so many latest top people with many many followers.

In short, we cannot do without social media. People of all ages love the media glare.

“Social media is not a media. The key is to listen, engage, and build relationships.” David Alston

Why you should enjoy social media?

There is a lot to learn from social media. Whether you want to learn to cook a dish or you want to wear a certain dress and do your hair in some special way, social media will give you the answer.
Social media is great for being aware of the world. Ask and you will have answers to the following questions. How to travel the world alone or with friends? What is the budget eating places? How do sightseeing?
Find out about cross-cultural issues, politics, geography, maths anything under the sun will be answered if you are active on social media.
If you are running a business your advertisement can reach large audiences without the need of sending emails separately to people.
You make a positive connection with the audience that you desire based on your handle, product, or people.
You can hire people to create raw and organic content. You see who interacts with your posts and adapt a better strategy for your followers.
It is the easiest and cheapest way to be able to build a brand with advertisement and get a good amount of traffic as followers.

The Pew Research Center, the percentages of U.S. adults that use social media sites online or on mobile are given below:

YouTube: 73%
Facebook: 68%
Instagram: 35%
Pinterest: 29%
Snapchat: 27%
LinkedIn: 25%
Twitter: 24%

Social media is good but one has to be very careful. Sometimes it becomes an addiction without taking drugs and there are many after-effects especially on children.

Addiction to social media is a big topic of discussion

The Newport Academy has done a lot of research on teenage addiction to social media

Teenagers' relationship to social media addiction is a big topic today. Teenagers love social media — but is it good for them?

Many scientists have reflected on the increasing number of links between social networking and mental health problems.

The teenagers are facing distress and different types of depression if their posts are not liked by people or they do not get the number of comments that they desire.

It is becoming more than a social platform for them. They want many followers and have a feeling of one-upmanship over others. Some of the users also resort to cyber bullying.

Research is also suggesting the effects of social media addiction on the teenage brain.

According to a 2019 study in JAMA Psychiatry, teens who spend more than three hours on social media daily, are at a higher risk of developing mental health issues.

Two distressing examples of addiction to social media that lead to suicides

#1The BBC News reported that Selena Rodriguez, an 11-year-old resident of the town of Enfield, had committed suicide the year before. The mother blames her death on depression and deprivation of sleep due to addiction to meta social media platforms. This case has been registered during the time that research and discussions are going on over the impact of social media on children.

#2. Another example of addiction to social media was reported by BBC in the UK in 2017

The father of a 14-year-old blamed Instagram for the suicide of his daughter. Her family looked into her Instagram account they found distressing material about depression and suicide and according to them, their daughter Molly Russell was helped by Instagram to commit suicide.

What are the learnings?

Social media has added a lot of value to our lives especially during the pandemic.
Although social media has added value to our lives it has some limitations and one of them is that you get addicted to it and begin to spend more and more time.
If you or your children are spending too much time instead of value addition it has a bad effect on your mental health.

Conclusion

Let social media be your slave and not your master. Enjoy it but do not spend more than three hours on it in a day.

I feel keeping in touch with people around the world is wonderful through social media.

It is a great place to learn new things in life. It gives us many tips to face challenges too.

My advice is to use social media with caution. Do not become addicted to it. As long as you have a balance in life the negative effects will not touch you.

Social media is fascinating but not at the cost of health. Not at the cost of depression or suicide.

“What is interesting is the power and the impact of social media… So we must try to use social media in a good way.” — Malala Yousafzai

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