Social media has revolutionized the world and made it a global village. Users from all over the world can meet and interact on one platform. It has been beneficial in making our lives easier, has provided a platform for businesses to grow and has also made us see the world from a different perspective. While it has been praised to be very useful when it is overused its downside is manifested clearly.
Let’s look at what is so wrong about social media.
Facilitates Laziness
In this age of social media, people have access to anything they might need. You can get food deliveries to your doorstep from your favorite restaurant, such that you do not have to go to class. With platforms like Netflix, you do not have to go to a theatre to watch a movie since you can stream all your favorite shows from your couch. You do not have to go to school especially at the university level since you can take your classes online at home. You can also shop from the comfort of your home on site like Amazon and have your items delivered. All this freedom creates a generation that is highly dependent on social media to perform their tasks making the very lazy.
Leads To Social Media Addiction
To remain updated on social media platforms, we need to spend hours going through multiple social media platforms making it a habit that is rewarding; hence it becomes an addiction. People find themselves stuck on social media such that they tend to assess it the first thing in the morning when they wake up or in the idle of the night while they are sleeping.Others let social media affect them even at their work orduring lectures.
No Privacy
The world of social media is a world with no privacy. We end up posting all our private information that is required to join these platforms all over and therefore are prone to get bullied on social media by the person who might want to hurt us. They can gain access to your accounts and post mean things about you which is not good.
Lack Of Empathy
We are creating a generation without pity on the social media platforms. People who spend so much on the internet do not have the time to interact with fellow human beings at a personal level. Lack of human interaction erodes the human side of a person leaving them hollow. According to sociology, the human being is a social being that is highly dependent on the socialization process to grow. The socialization process on the social media platform is not the right one since it causes detachment. That is what makes others post meant things about others on social media without caring how much they will hurt them.
Encourages Drug Abuse
Social platforms have enabled us to follow the lives of other people especially celebrities closely. Celebrities are deemed rolemodels.Unfortunately, there are others who do drugs are not your role models. They post images taking cigarettes and alcohol and people especially teenagers tend to emulate them, and they end up being drug addicts themselves because smoking like a particular celebrity was fun.
Cyberbullying
People tend to post a bad thing about others on social media with the intention of hurting their feelings, or as a revenge mission without stopping to think about it. There is quite some people who have fallen into depression as a result of cyberbullying and end up committing suicide. It can also make somebody sad and lonely. There are notorious hackers too who take charge of other peoples accounts and use them as a weapon.
Lowers A Person’s Self-esteem.
Most social media platforms are pasted with photos of the so-called skinny, pretty and sexy models. If you can’t get to their standard one can get a feeling of under accomplishment and might even start to doubt their worthiness.
Some teenagers have died as a result of trolling or body shaming which has contributed to the lack of self-esteem leading to depression. Some social media platforms like Instagram have a follower standard requiring one to have many followers to get recognized. A person with low self-esteem is likely to do anything within their power to increase their popularity. They can go as far as buy 1000 likes instant for their profile or you can buy youtube followers.
Causes Depression
With the availability of social media at our fingertips, people have started comparing themselves with others. We do not all have the same financial ability. While some will afford things like a vacation, you might not be in a position to experience the same as well. People make posts about good life experiences, and when others compare themselves, it becomes almost impossible to avoid getting jealous.
Knowing full well we cannot achieve or have what they have we get stressed a feeling that t can lead to depression.
Breaks Relationships
Social media lately is known to break relationships especially the romantic ones. People tend to air their issues for everyone to see and offer them advice that is not reliable. It also creates a room for jealousy especially when one of the partners or both share posts with the opposite sex. Only a few have the capability to success when it is built in front of social media. It is advisable to at least nature this part of your life privately.
Increased Cyber Crimes
Social media platforms have reported an increased rate in cybercrimes. These include blackmails and stealing money through wire transfer from others account. Some people take the identity of others and try to get money from you with a promise to never do that again. It is essential to note that once blackmail start it probably never ends and they will always come back.
Final word
Social media affects us differently. When we decide to use social media, we risk our privacy and personality, and some would say the risk is worth it while others might refrain from using social media. The bottom line is most of us have used social media at some point it is not entirely wrong as it also has its right side.