Six ways how Social Media is killing us from inside
Well, I might sound like a hypocrite cos most of you must have reached here via a social media platform. I am not a saint either. Such is the power of social media that it pulls all of us with great force. The views that I am going to present here may be hard to accept (it was for me initially). I am not writing this to hurt anyone either. Please go through it (it may help you).
I think social media has done great harm to humanity. These aren’t my personal views. I have read quite a few research papers and articles on these. Its primary purpose was to CONNECT PEOPLE. It has gone far beyond that, and currently, it’s much much more than a platform that connects people.
1. Social Media Addiction
This is one of the most significant issues. Here is what social media addiction means[1]:
Social media addiction is a behavioural addiction that is characterized as being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas.
Most of us must have been through this during this lockdown period. We just lay on your bed; open Instagram or Facebook and then starts the infinite scrolling. The emptiness felt during this period is queer. But, we keep doing this.
When I used to be very active on social media, I couldn’t believe that it is an addiction. After some research, I found that it is really an ADDICTION. The reason is when you hear the sound of a notification, then your brain releases “Dopamine”, the same hormone released when a person drinks or smokes. That’s why you feel good when you get a message from your crush. Let me show you how serious is this issue[2].
As Forbes reports, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, made this analogy at the World Economic Forum earlier this year, and he also proclaimed that social media companies like Facebook should be regulated “exactly the same way you regulated the cigarette industry.”
In an interview with CNBC, Benioff also proclaimed that “Facebook is the new cigarettes. You know, it’s addictive. It’s not good for you. There are people trying to get you to use it that even you don’t understand what’s going on. The government needs to step in. The government needs to really regulate what’s happening.”
This is what makes abandoning social media tough.
2. The Perfect Social Media
Everything in social media seems to be perfect than ever. People have perfect bodies. People are beautiful. People have perfect lives! Isn’t it weird? (You may call me butthurt ugly unsuccessful guy. LoL.)
I think it is a little weird. The number of suicides has plummeted in recent years. People are more depressed than ever. No one gets depressed cos he/she is happy (Suffering from success is only a meme -_-). Let me first tell you why we see the only perfection in social media. First of all, people post when they achieve something or when something good occurs in their life, like marriage or birthday. Don’t get me wrong here. People don’t do it to hurt anyone, but it’s kind of a norm on these platforms that you post when something exceptional occurs in your life (some do it intentionally too) — secondly, photo editing. The pictures we see are also perfect. Many of them are edited. That’s why people look so beautiful. The sceneries look so good.
All of these are deceptive. We all fall into this trap. Life in truth is harsh. We have to fight those tough times(I am not saying that tough times are wrong). Very few talk about the tough times. This is the reason why we fail to reality and consider ourselves responsible for not being perfect.
3. Low Self-Esteem
This is the result of perfection in social media. A person starts considering himself/herself ugly. He/she thinks that why he is the only one who does not possess a sound body. He/she thinks why he’s not getting to see those beautiful places like his/her friends.
Let me go to the extreme. People start seeking attention. Once the likes reducing, self-doubt creeps in. Thoughts like these come into heads:
Why am I not like him/her? Why don’t I look okay?
My last pic had 75 likes. This one should have 90 likes. If I get less than 90 likes, I am not good enough.
You may think that this is too much. But trust me, this is the truth. We start thinking about why he/she didn’t like my photo; why he/she didn’t reply to my story. Please think about this. We all have been there. This brings in restlessness into one’s mind. This slowly leads to bad mental health and in the worst case, leads to depression. This process is gradual and mostly goes unaddressed.
4. Fake People
Well, this isn’t the case of only social media right now. Fake people surround us all everywhere. But it’s apparent in social media. Let me explain what I mean.
Go to your Instagram page. Check out the number of followers. Now, check the number of people with whom you have talked. What’s the percentage? Very less. Isn’t it? Okay, let’s see another view. Go to your most recent picture. Check out the number of people who have liked your photo. Now, check the number of people with whom you have talked. What’s the percentage? Still very less? You probably know where I am going and hence, you would call me a fool. True. How can someone label a person as fake based on chats he /she has had in the past?
But, what I mean is this. Consider, you are in trouble (I guess we all get into trouble.). You want to talk to someone. Let us see how many people would talk to you at such times. You can cut off the names with whom you don’t chat on social media. Am I correct now? Next up. Let’s consider with whom you have spoken. More than half of them won’t listen to your issues by saying that they are busy. Now, consider the people left who wouldn’t say that they are busy. Half of them would say everything would be okay without even listening to your issue. Some would say stop behaving like a cry-baby. How many are left? Very few, I guess. Therefore, the REAL people are very few. But when someone asks “Hey bud! You have so many friends. I can see that you got so many followers on Facebook and Instagram”. You are like “Yeah man! I socialise pretty well, you know.”. Is this the truth? Ask yourself.
5. Cyberbullying
This is one of the biggest issues. Check out the comments sections in posts related to politics, sports or entertainment. It lacks Freedom of Speech, I suppose. If you put your views out there, you get abused. The point is people fail to accept that something can have two or more forms, with none of them being right or wrong. People have hardwired in their heads that something can either be good or bad.
The worst part is kids are suffering from this. Young kids making videos on YouTube or TikTok get lewd comments and abuses at a very young age. Cyberbullying leads to low self-esteem and hurts a person very badly. People even get death threats. It is disgraceful. People think that others should follow the ideology they wish to pursue. This has lead to a strong polarization in social media. You can see heated arguments everywhere. Well, social media is slowly turning very “unsocial”.
6. No Privacy
The most unaddressed issue, I guess. We are literally being played with (Oh Chuck cos I am being monitored by Zuck!)
As we all know, data is the new oil. Data is what has made Google, Facebook and Amazon so good. Yes, they did make our search results better. They did give better recommendations. But I guess we did not sign up for looking at stuff what Google or Facebook wanted. Probably, they know more about us than we know about ourselves. They know where we are. They know what we do. They know what we like. They know what not! Hence, they find out what we want. They use this to control us.
They are using our data to earn billions. It’s treacherous. We are being manipulated. This is the reason for the infinite scrolling. This is what makes us addicted to social media.
Conclusion
The thing that hurts me the most is that the Internet has become a “place to be in”. It’s mostly down to social media. I know I have been very radical with my views. I have talked only about the darker side. Social media has done lots of good for lots of people. But as I said, it’s changing. It’s not only CONNECTING us but also CONTROLLING us. This is really bad. You must be like who are you to tell us. Well, I used to be very anxious while I was using it. I am in a better place after I stopped using it. I am just sharing these views hoping that they would help you. I am not telling you to stop using it. But I would recommend you to reduce using it.
The thing is I have made myself miserable before. I don’t want anyone to be in such a state. Social media is a big reason for hurting oneself. We fail to realise it. We are precious to ourselves. Just love yourself. If you start reducing the use of social media, maybe you can find peace and find a new yourself. (Just as I began to write such dreadful stuff lately :P)
I hope you like it and let me know where I have gone wrong(in a polite manner please). Stay safe and have a good day!
