Social media has completely transformed a range of our life experiences. Consider travel: It’s not just that dodging selfie sticks makes navigating attractions harder, but because tourists no longer even gaze at the monuments, piazzas, or works of art. Instead, they turn their backs and look at themselves on a screen.
With a good majority of people nowadays having access to the internet, it is no surprise that roughly 76% of internet users have a social media account of some sort. This number has been rising over the past decade as more and more people are getting internet access not only at home, but also in the palm of their hands with smart phones and other devices. Social media was designed to bring people closer and keep each other up to date with what is going on in their lives. But in reality, people are becoming too dependent on social media looking for attention and social “interaction” online rather than in the real world. Here are some other ways that social media is ruining our society:
- Antisocial behavior
With more teens, and even kids in elementary school, obtaining social media accounts, we should have expected that millennials would become less social in the real world. Kids and young adults would rather keep up to date on their social media profiles instead of interact and socialize with the people around them.
- Addiction
People may think about drugs and alcohol when they hear the word “addiction,” but people can easily get addicted to social media. These addicts have the constant need to update their status even on multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter to name a few. Not only do they keep their constant living up to date on these sites, but they are constantly refreshing and reading what others are posting as well.
- Picking sides
Social media is a breeding ground for controversial topics. People can post their opinions on recent events, political stances, and a boat load of other topics. This may seem to be a great way for people to express their opinions and be themselves, but if the opposing opinion is much more favored than an individual’s own, they may side with the others as to avoid ridicule or not even post at all. Another issue with these widely discussed topics is the spread of falsified information due to popular posts by popular people.
Several incidents have been witnessed in the past and such incidents are still in discussion where a single post caused fire in the entire forest, you know what I mean, to name a few recent cases like Mohsin Abbas and his marriage, Iqra’s engagement and Firdous Jamal’s comments about Mahira Khan. I’m sure these issues would not have been so widely discussed and judged if it wasn’t for social media.
