In the recent years, it is evident how rapid the growth of social media use has been. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the population adapted to a technology abundent lifestyle due to the virtual work and school concept. Naturally, the increase in the use of devices is followed by an increase in the use of social media. Applications such as TikTok took over the world with their 15 second videos during the pandemic along with other platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
Social media has its benefits, some of them being increased communication, as it allowes individuals to keep in contact with loved ones, even when they are not present physically. This is specially helpful in long-distance relationships of any kind. Furthermore, social media acts as a creative outlet for individuals and helps them find a community that share similar inetersts and hobbies. Additionionally, social media nowadays have created job oppertunities, with social media influencers earning a living from brand deals and video monatization.
However, social media has been the main reason for the lost art of face-to-face interations. Social media has created ‘ipad kids’ and ‘Facebook moms/dads’ which are terms used for individuals who are addicted to their devices and social media to a point where they are unable to survive even a few hours without access to it. It is evident that in the past few years children have spent significantly less time communicating with their parents and even their friends face-to-face. This is the same with adults as everyone is more interested in watching entertaining videos and reading gossip articles than truely communicating with one another. Not only that, social media brings about various other negative consequences. One being the increase in mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety due to the constant comparisons with others on the internet, the rise in aggressive behaviour due to a rise in entertainment depicting such aggressive behaviours as well as physical consequences such as bad eyesight.
In conclusion, it is evident that although there is an abundance of positive attributes to the use of social media the negative consequences outweigh them due to it’s severity. Never the less, social media used in moderation allows individuals to reap the benefits while still mitigating the consequences.