Social media is now a part of everyone's day, whether you realize it or not. I'm guilty of this myself, but you scroll through all social media before falling asleep, and you wake up only scroll through all of your social media again to check the last four hours of posts you've missed. Social media is consuming, and it is very easy to be sucked in. It's crazy how pictures and statuses can cause such controversy. Things are taken out of context, friendships are put on the line and many people believe in a certain time period for "likes". Social media is literally destroying our lives.
1. The context of a post.
This might open up multiple different doors with many different meanings. Reading a status on Facebook or a Tweet can be taken the wrong way at times. The question becomes, is someone being sensitive, or are they feeling guilty. A simple "I have no friends to talk to" tweet could be only a joke or in good humor- but one of your followers will reply with a sub-tweet of "I hate people who always expect a text first". While sub-tweets are totally immature, it's just a prime example of how someone determines the context of a post, whether they are right or not.
2. Relationships are on the line.
Nothing ruins relationships more then social media. Remember that Snapchat update that got rid of the "best friends feature"? That featured that allowed you to see who your friends snapped the most. When Snapchat got rid of the feature, everyone went ballistic and freaked that it would "ruin relationships everywhere". Whatever happened to trust? Social media makes it so easy to spy on your significant other, the person you're talking to and even friends. It's actually really scary how much information you can learn about a person from their social media posts. It's also really sad how many times social media ruins relationships or starts problems for people. "He's liking another girls picture" "Why is he commenting on her picture?" "Why doesn't she ever favorite my tweets?" The list goes on and on.
3. Everything becomes a contest.
Social media ruins things that use to be fun. Instead of doing things for fun and memories people are now "doing it for the 'gram" (maybe it's a documented memory because it's a picture, but I don't even think people think that far). There are some people that only post pictures during certain times to get the most likes and when their post doesn't receive a lot of likes, they delete the post and re-post it at some other point. Instead of doing something because it looks nice or is something enjoyable, everyone seems to worry about their followers and outdoing someone else. Do you and what makes you happy, not what some creep or lowlife on the internet has to say about it.
4. Social skills are becoming non-existent.
There are so many people that use online chat rooms, texting and messenger. Phones are only used for texting/applications. Phone calls have turned into "sliding into someone's DM's". People are relying so heavily on social media that holding a conversation in person is sometimes almost impossible for them. Even pictures are becoming more and more deceiving; people constantly hiding their true identity and how they really look, but why? Be proud of who you really are and how you look, you're your own person! People can hide behind a computer screen or phone screen that when it comes to interacting in the real world, they're lost. Which is sad because how can you ever make it in the real world if you can't hold a five minute conversation face-to-face with someone?
5. Everyone always has something to say.
Social media suddenly becomes this outlet for everyone's opinions- which don't get me wrong, is totally fine. During elections, some people become a politician for a month, then goes on to not even give a crap for the next four years. Whatever the trending topic is, everyone cares and freaks out, but a week or a few days later forgets the topic even existed. Social media is perfect for making a big deal out of everything. Facebook fights over a simple status message is what the world is now coming to. Friends argue over opinions, but a good question to ask yourself is, "would you ever say your status message out loud in a crowded room?" Or, "would you ever say your comment to your friends face?" Don't let an opinion or thought ruin a friendship because you have more balls behind a computer screen, then you would in person.
6. There is a lack of originality.
"It's snowing!" "It's way too hot.." I don't even have to look out my window or go out to enjoy anything in real life anymore. Think about it- during the snow storm back in January, how many tweets and statuses did you count about it? The beautiful rainbow that was in the sky after the really bad rainstorm back in July; how many Instagram pictures did you count of the same rainbow? Originality has simply disappeared at times. Maybe great minds think alike, who knows. But after the 100th "wow it's so cold outside!!!" tweet in your news-feed, I'm sure you get the idea.
