Growing Impact of Social Media on Human Lives
By Mounika Ramreddygari
When people say Social Media, what's the first thing that pops into your head?
#dalgonacoffee #covidtimes #quaratinetime or maybe one of those challenges looping around the world!!
You might wonder if its a positive statement or a negative one but in reality, its a neutral one.
Social media has an influence that can be both good and bad, only one should know how to balance its usage on a regular basis.
In a day how many hours do you think we spend on eating? 2 hours, maybe 3, that is also the same amount my phone screen time says I spend on social networking sites, go ahead and check yours, I wonder if it would be any different.
Research says 70% of Canada is active on social media, do you know what that means?
70% of the country is scrolling through pages to trend topics making every trivial thing imperative for sometimes useful but mostly otherwise useless reasons.
Every single Day!
Every dish be presentable,
Every picture be impeccable,
and every quote we post should be influential enough and every one’s social life?
No less than perfect.
That is the expectation Social Media in 2020 has set.
Its funny how we know the show put up can be a myth yet believe it is real when we see it online.
Wanna hear something funnier?
These beliefs in unrealistic social influence start messing with the peace of our real brains and when can't be handled well, we find flex terms like Hashtag - Social Detox!
Before we talk of detox, I want to point out the four toxic stressors of Social Media:
Starting with my least favorite stressor - Comparison.
Every social media post we see, we compare it with our very own lives, previously when we watched celebrities live high end lives, it was a disturbance when we compared and now with everyone posting, we are constantly stressing about whose vacation plans look better or who is having the better food or who is wearing it better. It's ridiculous how real life is being compared to controlled online content and stressing over it.
Second Stressor: Social Currency.
In simpler terms we are using ourselves to market ourselves on a social platform to sell ourselves. 100 selfies are clicked to post 1-2 to get likes or comments. I wonder what is the product and what is the currency but irrespective of the terms, its the stress of pleasing people by advertising for no good reason is creating mental breakdown and leading to depression in social media users. And I am sure we have all experienced it ourselves from time to time.
The third one is the very Famous - FOMO.
For those of you who dont know, FOMO is the fear of Missing Out.
He bought a car. Wasn’t he in my class? Isn’t he my age?
She’s engaged? I hope I get invited to the wedding!!
80 likes! Just 80 likes? Karen’s ugly cat got more likes, C’mon people!
The anxiety this stressor is causing in social media is unparalleled.
Last one is the big fish, Online Harassment.
It is said that 40% of the Adults have experienced it.
73% of the people have witnessed and don't even get me started on how much worse it is if you’re a female celebrity, LGBTQ, or a person with a disability.
It is no joke when a person questions his self-worth, gets low enough to lose himself and commits suicide just because of Social Media’s bad comments. Mark Manson said, “People get addicted to feeling offended all the time because it gives them a high” and when high just like in any other case, people tend to die! So Online harassment is a stressor that can be the worst social media accounts for.
Said that, I firmly believe there are two sides to every coin, there are a million benefits the social platforms have created, numerous opportunities, strong connections, healthier communications and various other sources of entertainment and happier lifestyles day in and day out.
So to dwell into Social Media Wellness, I have 4 counter attack steps to deal with the stressors.
- First we should be able to recognize that there is a problem, social media awareness is critical, we should understand and realize the stress it is causing, with no denials.
- Step 2 would be auditing the social media diet, #socialdetox, cut down your screen times, limiting from getting addicted to it. In layman terms, monitor whatever goes into your head & heart & see the results
- Step 1 and 2 pave a path to step 3 all by themselves, which is creating a better Online experience. Is there a guy who has been annoying, just remove him, is someday’s shiny new home messing that brain of yours, unfollow till you feel better. You don't have to explain yourself, you don't have to be a part of the passive- aggressive status war.
- And all this leads to the final Step - Model Social Media behavior. Hashtag Good Vibes Only. No stressing out due to any social media influence.
My intention through this topic was to rethink, Why do things get dark on Social Media, is it due to the dark side of the platform itself or the dark side of the people involved.
It has to be the people because after all you cannot blame your Macbook for how disappointingly Game of Thrones’ ended.
So Social Media does not have to distract you from your reality, does not have to disrupt your mental health, does not have to stress you out, it can simply be a collection of experiences, full of inspiration, motivation and a whole lot of hilarious memes.
Also Read: Look After Your Mental Health In Times Of Pandemic
