Social media is a strong transformation that has changed every aspect of our lives; it has completely changed the way we socialize, operate a business, participate in politics and socio-cultural events, and develop careers.
People can use social media to connect with their friends and family. This has brought people closer than before.
But we are less aware of what effect it has on us and how frequently we use our phones to check social media. We often consider people who don’t use social media as old or introverted. In this article, we will discuss the positive & negative effects of social media.
Table of Contents
Pros Of Using Social Media
1. Pure fun and relaxation
We use social media during breaks or free time as a form of relaxation. It contains various types of ways to entertain us like videos based on our interests, messages, jokes and pictures which connect us to people. It’s awesome to be able to know what our friends are up to without having to text or ask them.
2. Connect with people through social media
One of the most obvious benefits of having social media is the ability to contact people quickly from anywhere. We can share the news with the world directly and we get to know people with the same interests.
3. Stay updated anytime
All you have to do is go on social media to find out what’s going on in the world. You can also personalize your news and information retrieval experiences by selecting exactly what you want to follow.
4. Know your interest and business
Many easy, free or low-cost social media monitoring tools are available to help you gain fundamental facts about the market you’re in. You can gather information on competitors, prospects, and customers, as well as information about your company, products, and services.
5. Encouraging goodness
If your goal is to become better, joining a group with a similar goal and people from all over the world will help you grow. We can follow different pages, groups and hashtags that will encourage us toward our goal. Many people around the world share their success and failure stories on social media which provide the motivation and lessons we might need every day.
Cons Of Social Media
1. Urge To Fit In
The overwhelming pressure to do something or act a certain way can be harder on social media for people trying to fit in with their peers — especially teens and young adults. We see people doing good and having fun on social media and think our life is monotonous. This might cause depression. This is also one of the major effects of social media on teens.
2. Social Media Vs Reality
Mostly what we see on social media is not real. People just post happy moments and filtered pictures and content and we tend to believe it. We keep overthinking about it and try to suddenly change our life like that even if we are not comfortable enough. We judge ourselves and decide self-worth according to what appears on social media.
3. Noise Around Us
At the same time, social networking can be both overwhelming and tempting. You will receive updates regularly if you join every social network and add hundreds of individuals as friends. It’ll be difficult to keep track of each person’s updates. If you want to find something precise, you’ll have a lot of fuss to filter out.
4. Wastage Of Time
We do not consider how much time we spend on social media when we are mindlessly scrolling the feed. We definitely get continuous content based on what we like because of the social media algorithms and we just keep flowing with it.
Yes, social media is entertaining but it can consume a lot of your time and cost your productivity.
5. Degrading Quality Of Conversation
When using social media, the quality of a conversation decreases since you cannot feel the other person’s emotion or interest. It makes you wonder if what they say is true or if they are interested in you.
We can use social media for good by setting some boundaries about time and content. We can limit our access to social media in order to keep checking on time. Balancing makes everything better. You can balance the pros and cons of social media and improve the quality of life.
6. Instant Gratification
The algorithm of social media is designed to keep you hooked. Social Media provides constant stimulation to your brain & your brain then always craves instant gratification. This is one of the reasons why you are unable to focus as your mind cant handle boredom & needs something or other interesting.
Final Thoughts:
As we now know the pros & cons of social media it is necessary for us to have strategies in place to reap the benefits of social media with minimum damage to our life. Things like staying off social media have their own benefits but before making such a decision you would always weigh the upsides & downsides of doing so.
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Sharvari is a CSE undergrad and an author at Evolve. She is a dreamer. An explorer of life which she showcases in her writing. She writes to share, to learn and to be heard!