Social media is one of the best things to have happened to this generation since sliced bread. Come to think of it, it has made communication and interaction easier and more convenient.
By definition, social media is a computer mediated technology that facilitates the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career, interest and other forms of expression.
It is growing rapidly and becoming a vital part of our everyday life.
Our culture, norms and values are integral parts of who we are (our identity), what we feel connected to and how we behave.
Social media plays a big role in our social interactions. We no longer need to be with our important others physically before we know what they are doing; all we need to do is connect to them on twitter or Facebook.
Social media has become a prominent feature of life, especially among young people today.
There is an undue pressure on young people financially, socially, psychologically and otherwise when they consistently compare themselves to others on social media platforms.
This creates a feeling of inferiority complex among them. It is a major distraction to achieving their sets goals because it most times competes for their time and resources.
Social media sometimes exposes us to avoidable threats and vices like addiction (drugs), violence, abuse, kidnap, assassination etc.
Have you consciously sat down to analyse and estimate the total time you spend on social media?
Social media affects our habits and decisions; to a reasonable extent, it operates on our subconscious because our minds have been filled with images of other people and we begin to feel pressure to outdo or be like them.
Also, it has almost eroded our educational culture of spelling right and correctly because abbreviations have taken centre stage. Students can hardly make simple phrases like “…You’re welcome”, “…talk to you later”, “…happy birthday”, instead they would rather use these: “Ywc or U wlc”, “ttyl”, and “hbd” respectively.
Young people have literally embraced bestial and decadent tendencies when they post photo of themselves or others under the influence of alcohol, wearing something revealing body or even naked in other to get more ‘likes’ and flirty ‘comment’ calling themselves different names like *BITCH*
A lot of relationships have hit the brick wall as a result of being seen in a compromising situation on social media.
If you are not very disciplined, social media will distract you from the very important things in life – family, religion, school etc.
In conclusion, people can only be affected by a thing if they allow it to affect them. Social media can influence our lives either for better or worse. It all comes down to the type of person you are.
If you are a person who is easily swayed by all tom, dick and harry, then keep off. We need to pay attention to our own life, we need not to be competitive and just enjoy the moment instead of showing off. We shouldn’t turn ourselves to social media ADDICT.
