Social media is strange if you actually take some time to think about it. It has changed so much over the years. It has good qualities and bad qualities, and I’m starting to think the negatives may outweigh the positives.
When social media first came about, it was about keeping in touch with friends and an easier way to communicate with needed people, with maybe an occasional funny video. This was great and what it was intended for, but somewhere along the way we have begun to stray from this.
Nowadays, we might just be getting out of control with this entire thing. Sure, I can still see what my friends and family are doing and thinking. I can also see some cute videos. I can even read about current events and learn things I never knew before. But then I click the comments section and it all goes downhill.
Watch, read, share your opinion, tag your friends, whatever, but don’t be rude because you have nothing better to do. Every comment I see is something completely unnecessary, and usually very hurtful. Is there really nothing better you could be doing with your time?
This actually leads me to my next negative, and I am not sure why this is even something I would ever have to talk about. But you know what happens on social media? Catfishing. Again, nothing better to do? My goodness gracious, it is beyond me why anyone would use a fake profile to make someone fall in love with them (I know if you didn’t know what catfishing was before this, you are actually dumbfounded that it is a real thing, but I promise it is).
Can I also just talk about those fight videos? I am no advocate for fighting. I usually need to leave the room if a fight breaks out, but for some reason everyone else loves to watch one person hurt another person. So now, anytime I scroll through my Facebook or Twitter, I stumble upon people fighting. Social media has become a place to post videos of people fighting. Instead of stopping people from harming each other, we get our phones out and record it. That way we can post it and see how many views we can get. Again, nothing better to do with your time?
Lastly though, one major negative of social media is our dependency on it. We cannot go even a short period of time without our phones and being on social media sites. We do have the opportunity to communicate on these networks, but we don’t communicate in person. What an amazing world we live in and we give up exploring it and taking part in its beauty to spend time on social media. I won’t rant on that because I am sure you are completely aware that too much time is spent on the phones and not enough on face-to-face interaction.
Of course, there are still many positives to social media. We find amazing talents on these social media platforms, we learn about heroic events, we discuss and interact, we support great causes and get involved in things that make a difference in the world, we can even see adorable dog pictures.
But when does the bad start to outweigh the good? When do all the negative and hateful comments below all the positive posts drive us to stop posting all the good? How long until social media is taken over by negative? Just a little something to consider. We never think about how these things can have a domino effect. We’re in the moment and do not consider the future outcomes and impacts.
If you take anything from this article (as you read it on some form of social media), it should be awareness of the fact that we are consumed in social media. I am not saying drop social media all together, but a little less time spent looking at your phone or computer screen cannot hurt, and a little less time spent criticizing others couldn’t hurt either.
