Technology & Social Media – are they the boon or the
bane of our society?
“Social Media is addictive precisely because it gives us
something which the real world lacks: it gives us immediacy,
direction, and value as an individual.”
Another thing that social
media tends to do is reduce our ability to think independently. A study was
conducted where two German universities joined
forces to investigate social
networking, and discovered that one in three people surveyed felt worse
("lonely, frustrated or angry") after spending time on Facebook,
often due to perceived inadequacies when comparing themselves to friends.
Addiction to
social media is prevalent amongst the world, especially in USA, Britain and
Russia. In fact, addiction has plenty of effects on the humans, such as the
very obvious – people stop socializing.
It’s
blatantly obvious how teenagers/kids have drastically become more gadget savvy
and acclimatized than teenagers/kids a few years ago.
7 years
ago, kids were still playing outside, playing board games and using their
creativity to its extreme, with projects, drawings, songs and whatnot found
throughout the house. These days, kids express their creativity in games online
or apps developed and present on their respective gadgets, and are notoriously
known to have social media accounts much before their actual age restriction.
Technology
has slowly, but surely, grown upon us all. Take an example: Larry Rosen,
Professor of Psychology at California State University, and an expert on the
link between psychology and technology opines that teenagers who are on
Facebook more show “narcissistic tendencies”. They are also more prone to
depression, lower grades, psychological disorders and future health problems if
they are on Facebook too much.
One in
eight Americans suffers from problematic Internet use, according to a study
published in The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine, and often
rates are higher in many Asian countries. An estimated 30 percent or more of
the Chinese population is classified as highly addicted to the Web.
Social
media is found prominent in several platforms in our world today, and some of
the most popular have been listed down below:
Facebook –
Facebook is a social networking website (and app) that is one of the most
popular social media platforms till this day. It has an approximate of
1,650,000,000 users! The website was released on February 4th, 2004 by the
founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Snapchat –
Snapchat is an app (later developed into a website as well) that is currently
extremely popular! It covers various mediums, but the most popular feature of
this app is all the filters it provides to edit your face (or any objects), and
then to later post them to your profile.
On the
other side, teens are also taught how to show "virtual empathy" to
online companions and (somewhat) how to socialize.
I asked
some of my classmates and friends what their view on social media was, and this
was one of the answers provided.
“Social
Media can be positive and negative – it all depends on the person. There are
people who are more responsible than others, and stay within their limits, and
social media can have good effects on them, as it can provide people with good
exposure. But on the other hand, it can be a bad influence for the people that
use, and/or interpret it in the wrong ways. These people tend to be the ones
that get hooked on, and create hackers or spam.”
This, I
believe, is the true effect of social media on our lives today, as social media
is known to have good and bad outcomes. Some good outcomes are impact on
business, politics, and a good effect on connecting people (ex. online dating).
In
conclusion, social media and technology have been proven to have several
effects on our lives, and some might be great – and some might not, but
everything can be good, in moderate quantities.
Sources:
https://www.addiction.com/addiction-a-to-z/technology-addiction/technology-addiction-101/
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