Technology has become increasingly important in day to day life. We use it to work, to shop, to help us cook, and to do even more. Most can argue that technology has greatly benefitted impacted our lives. However, not all technology is always productive and not always positive. For example, games that we download on are smartphones are not very productive and can even be seen as hurtful because they cause us to waste our time on a temporary joy, but they still remain popular to this day because of how they grasp our attention. Another aspect of technology that has been rapidly growing that has a hold of society’s attention despite the consequences is social media.
Social media is a way that people can connect with the community instantaneously. They can share recent events in their life, opinions about any topics, and they can even comment about other people’s post. This allows information to spread faster among family and friends. It can even bring new groups of people together that have common interest. It can also be a way that businesses can promote and advertise there goods. They can gain a following and grow their business.
So at first glance, social media seems like nothing, but positive and if used correctly it could be. However, social media has actually caused a decrease in productivity because it is so easy for people to get attached that it becomes a distraction. It also is not a healthy distraction.
A lot of younger minds use social media and younger minds means easier to influence. A lot of young individuals will see images or posts about others people’s lives and start to compare it to their own. They might be comparing themselves to a celebreality or to one of their very own friends. When comparison happens they typically start to focus on what they do not like about themselves, which hurts their self esteem. So that when they go to post on social media they feel the need to project an image that they see as socially acceptable or to the societal standard.
This cycle continues repeatedly, to the point people are posting versions of themselves that are not true to who they really are. Sometimes people will even go to the extent to create lies about where they are or they will edit their bodies to make it look a certain way. So when people see it and compare themselves to it, they are comparing themselves to something that is not even real.
Social media can be a positive when it is used in a uplifting manner, however it is easy for it to turn into something that it was not originally intended for. Be careful what you post and consume on social media because what you see is not always what you will get. The person on the screen is different than the person behind the screen, it is a double of them, a false reality. So don’t get caught up in someone’s double and instead ask yourself if what you are seeing is the truth.
