Social Media- Toxic Relation to Human’s Natural Communication

Living in the 21st century, technology has become a universal safety jacket, it becomes really important for us to understand some integral parts of this technology. One such part is ‘Social Media’. Social media is basically an online platform where human beings communicate. We can have an international reach with these platforms sitting anywhere across the globe through any device which is having internet access. In today’s world, it is the most preferred way of communication as it is the easiest, available and compatible method of communication. We like to interact more on social media rather than to the people who are actually standing right next to us. With all the advantages, come the drawbacks of social media which are actually leading to unnatural, unhealthy, and disturbing habits in human beings.

The human population now has a morning habit of checking their notifications of the social media platforms before even rinsing their eyes with water. In a study, researchers found out that about one-third of people communicate less with their children (32%), partners (24%), parents (32%), and friends (36%) because they can simply follow them on social media. Humans spend around 40,000 or more hours, average on social media in a lifetime, which is increasing on a daily basis. This may be doing more harm than doing good as we communicate less in real life which is the natural and the healthiest way of communication. Social media results in a lot of miscommunications as it is not the most credible, for example- people can catfish others using other’s pictures or videos and even their voices. While on the other hand if two or more we meet-up they get to communicate authentically. People on social media can interact by sharing pictures, videos, etc, liking, commenting, and reposting their thoughts and views about that thing.

The population today is obsessed about how many likes, views, comments; shares are there on their content. This addiction is resulting in taking a lot of cyber junk in the system. Some are even making a career out of it; as their content is pleasing the viewers so much that the viewers are making it viral by sharing that content as much as they can. But on the other hand, people who aren’t able to accomplish that popularity often suffer from anxiety, isolation, depression, and low self-worth as they think that we don’t like them and don’t want to communicate with them. Social media feeds people content, topics, campaigns, etc which are trending from time to time. We always try to find we who have a high number of followers and likes to be our company so that we can show we online that we are having a good social company, but that is always cliché.

We need real arms around their shoulders embracing us gracefully not any virtual hug, we need face to face direct connection where we can sense the other person’s feeling through their expressions, we need the friend and family gatherings to be one with fun and joy, and sharing stories and emotions. We need real dates to be romantic and not just a bunch of people scrolling through their phones.
We don’t know where it would lead us, but we know at what social costs social media is providing its services to us. So, be a smart human. Try to have real-life conversations with we you love and care about and let those conversations go beyond the emojis and character limits.