I Love social media! But does it Love me back?

It’s embarrassing to admit, I love social media! I love scrolling, and watching funny videos, posting memories, and keeping up with the latest trends, news, and my online friends! Sadly, one of the first things I do when I wake up is, I grab my phone to check out my feed to view everything I missed! Not every one can relate to this, but I know they’re plenty of people who can! So for those people who can relate, or are even more addicted to their social media accounts than I am, I think the harsh reality is that social media doesn’t love is back!
I must say that I am not as extreme of a social media fanatic as some of the people I know, or encounter! I can’t seem to go on a lunch with my friends, or even some family members, without them setting up our plates for the ultimate photo shoot. I have also witness the very bizarre moments at parties when my peers take their phones out, and record themselves singing, and dancing having the time of their lives. But as soon as they make their post, and put the phone away, they simmer down, the singing and dancing seizes, and they look as if they are utterly miserable! I’m the type of social media fanatic that often says, “omg, I should of posted that”!
With the growth of social media, and the goal of making us feel always and completed connected to others, lately I’ve been witnessing and feeling very adverse affects. “ For young adults, social media may not be so social after all. To investigate, Primack and his colleagues surveyed 1,787 U.S. adults ages 19 to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms outside of work. It turns out that the people who reported spending the most time on social media — more than two hours a day — had twice the odds of perceived social isolation than those who said they spent a half hour per day or less on those sites. And people who visited social media platforms most frequently, 58 visits per week or more, had more than three times the odds of perceived social isolation than those who visited fewer than nine times per week. “You might watch all these interactions where it seems like everyone else is connecting,” he says. That could lead to feeling excluded. The images of other people’s seemingly perfect vacations, homes and lives, even though those are not likely to represent reality, can make you feel like you’re missing out. It could be that influence goes both ways — isolation drives social media use and vice versa. Or there might be some unknown factor that is leading to both social isolation and social media use” (Hobson).
I find that we are loosing touch with in person social interaction. We often feel awkward and uneasy when the reality of being around another person sets in. Over time, and throughout its steady growth social media is making us less social. We find comfort in the identities we create for ourselves online, behind that screen! Social media doesn’t love us back guys! It’s stealing our souls with funny memes, funny videos, access to our favorite celebrities, and helping to create a false sense of reality, instead of going out and living that reality! Social media is leaving in its path a socially crippled society!

Reference:

Hobson, Katherine. “Feeling Lonely? Too Much Time On Social Media May Be Why.” NPR, NPR, 6 Mar. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/06/518362255/feeling-lonely-too-much-time-on-social-media-may-be-why.

 

1 comment

  1. I can’t relate more to your first paragraph! Last night I stayed up until two am refreshing my Instagram which in fact would not produce any new content because it was two am. I also work up at seven am and my social media apps were the first which I checked. Not to my surprise I came across ten new photos, of female lifestyle bloggers whom I do not know, upload their recent travel stories. I recently had a conversation with a close family friend who is upset with how much social media has taken over our lives. She goes out with friends like I do and doesn’t understand why everyone tries to pose for a photo for five minutes instead of enjoying the moment. She went as far as explaining a friend’s Facebook page. This friend posts selfies, her lunch, trips, photos of her smiling with friends, and she was taken aback because in real life she knows that she is not that happy and social media is allowing her to put on a façade.

    I rolled my eyes because, how true! Though after thinking back on the situation I myself have fallen victim to that. Positing photos of myself smiling out with friends, but no one knows that I had a panic attack about an hour before while getting ready for dinner. I agree with your statement that we often feel awkward and uneasy when the reality of being around another person sets in, however this is an act that was once normal for me and I did not have to think twice about. This of course was before social media and I had a flip phone which stored only five numbers. What happens if they notice something about me that I haven’t portrayed on social media? Who is the real me? We can very easily lose the sense of self through social media, filters, taking ten minutes to find the perfect caption to describe our night. I think that there can absolutely be an equal balance of both. Yes, social media has its negatives, but it comes with many positives as well. I can easily follow the lives of family and friends who live abroad. Following such activities allows me to have a much easier conversation over the phone as I have things to acknowledge and mention.

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