Before you go in with the mindset that I mean social media is a weapon of mass destruction, an impending doom, or a catastrophe that has been set loose on humanity, stop! Social media isn’t that big of a deal. Well, not that it isn’t dangerous or anything, it is just that it is more like a constant rain drop doomed to ruin the cemented pavement of our lives.
Being an avid follower of the newportian digital minimalism— All hail Cal Newport— it really isn’t too hard to see the countless ways social media has done more harm than good. Though social media came with its benefits, at least we can thank it for the faster communication, wider outreach, more effective marketing/advertising. Nonetheless, it came with its dark, spooky sides as well.
First, the whale in the room. Social media’s effects on our productivity. Oh, where do I begin! It might seem minimal, but let me throw out a question: “Does your productivity increase when you are without your apps?” Most of us would want to deny it, but even people with the strongest of will get caught turning to wind lots and a lot of hours behind social media apps. Many might argue that it’s a choice or a lack of basic discipline, but how do you explain the intentional efforts these big social media conglomerates make to keep you hooked? There is a whole thing called “attention engineering,” and all they do is ensure they keep grabbing your attention—as we all know, the more time you spend on social media, the better for them. So why not turn innocent minds into addicts?
The second bone of contention is nothing but social anxiety—and that’s just limiting the effects of social media on our social well being. How social media has made a whole concept of reducing the quality of your contents and post on social media to the number of likes or shares you get, this, that! Many people have derailed from high paths, fell into deep depressions and sadness all because of the metric system put in place by social media. Though it might appear not to be such a big deal, it has a constant effect of making you accept a false perception of yourself. However, I must commend Instagram’s effort in removing the number of likes’ metric system. It is a way forward. Nevertheless, other social media app are left and are eating deep.
Lastly, Social media adds rust to our day to day normal conversations. Oh, how do you limit body languages to simple emoticons? With social media in place, many people have become lacking in face-to-face conversation. Though social media isn’t to blame all the way, they play a great deal in it as they try to offer a replacement for normal conversations.
Tersely, it is no news that social media is a route to doom, but it doesn’t mean we should eliminate it totally. Cal Newport, the author of digital minimalism, said we can live without it. However, we can’t overlook the benefit of social media. We can learn to live “social medially” minimized while living the best of our life. Social media is an invention that has comes to stay and has brought lots of changes to the world as we know it. So though it might be dangerous, the best way to avoid its frosty bites is to learn to coexist with it.
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