Let me start off by saying that I know it is completely contradictory for this article to be bashing social media, as it will be shared on all forms of social media. If it wasn't, though, would anyone bother to read it? With that, I will begin. For my generation, college age, it all started with Myspace. We posted statuses and bulletins, updated our "about me" at least once a week, changed our "top friends" every time someone made us mad and updated our "songs" list when the newest songs came out. Even during this time we were still communicating efficiently because social media was all so new to us. Then, along came Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. The more social media sites that were available to us, the less we communicated in the real world. What exactly is social media doing to us?
It is ruining our communication skills. When is the last time you called someone on the phone to ask them where they were? I guarantee the first thing you do is check their Snapchat story to see if they posted anything at that party that everyone is at. We have lost our ability to communicate in the ways that we used to. Instead of a quick phone call we investigate every profile under their name to get the information that we need, and if we don't find it, the next step is a text message. Beyond that is our communication with others when we are face-to-face. If you get a group of college age people together it is almost guaranteed that they will all have their faces in their phones even if there is a task at hand.
We don't know how to focus. When we get our syllabus on the first day of class and the teacher puts in bold print at the top of the syllabus "absolutely no cell phones in class" we start to get anxious. We wonder how we can get through the entire hour and a half class period with out checking our social media timelines. We then think of ways we can position our books on our desk so it doesn't look like we are on our phones. We have lost all ability to sit in class and truly soak in the material with out checking our phone every five minutes.
It is ruining our relationships. Odds are if a couple meets in college they either met on Tinder or stalked each other on Twitter or Instagram. Once they meet each other, all they do is sit on their phones when they are together. This isn't necessarily the problem because we sit on our phones when we are alone, too. The problem is that social media is a breeding ground for issues in a relationship. Time and time again you see rude or snarky comments on photos of a couple, girls "sliding" into boy's direct messages who obviously have girlfriends, and people "sub-tweeting" a girl any time she tweets about her boyfriend. This is almost inevitable in any relationship. Even deeper than that, many partners feel the urge to check their significant other's social media accounts to see who they're talking to, what they're "liking", and who is "liking" their stuff. Social media has been, and will continue to be, the downfall of many relationships.
Our self-esteem is at an all-time low. When we think about social media lowering people's self-esteem we automatically think about insecure, young teenage girls. We need to think again. We model ourselves off of what we see on social media. That isn't always entirely awful. We try new things with our hair and makeup, new outfits and new workout routines. What isn't exactly healthy is trying to model ourselves off of other people. We lose our sense of individualism when we all aspire to be just like the "famous" people on social media. Take the "Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge" for example.
So, what can we do to stop it? There is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Social media is ever-changing, and so are we. We will be battling with social media for as long as it is around. I could preach that everyone needs to pay less attention to their phones, and pay more attention to the world around them, but what's the use? We grew up with this stuff. Social media is in our blood.
