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Social Media and the Society

The term ‘society’ is used to describe people in general, living together in communities. Social media is the main way that a large number of people communicate in society or receive information and entertainment. Communication is the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information. In our daily life communication helps us build relationships by allowing us to share our experiences and needs and helps us connect to others. It is the essence of life to express feelings, pass on information and share thoughts. Some of the oldest forms of human communication include talking or making sounds, drawing or painting, dancing, acting, using animals such as pigeons and using symbols.

 

Social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Zoom have made a profound impact on society in the present world. The world cannot function without social media. Social media connect people around the world. All the information that a person requires is just obtained with a single click. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media. Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media since Covid 19 pandemic era. Social media have broken all types of barriers. You can attend lectures or webinars happening worldwide while sitting in your native place. Social media have created an opportunity to convey our messages to a massive amount of audience.

 

Social media cannot connect people emotionally and it is making us unsociable. Social media has changed the way we live from the way we get news to the way we interact with our loved ones. It facilitates laziness and leads to depression, anxiety, loneliness, etc. People are isolated through social media with an illusion of virtual unity. Students become unskilled as lessons are taught virtually. Social media impact social issues as well. Slacktivism, Cyberbullying is the most common issue created in social media. False and misleading information is rapidly circulated in social media and heading to several corruptions. The world is changing with every passing moment because of technological inventions and the rapid adoption of technology. But technology is not the problem; we are. And the reality is we are slowly becoming addicted to social media. We tend to post photos just to get several likes and are letting others attribute values to us. It’s a waste of time as well. We will be obsessing over social media without concentrating on our main commitments. This will be devastating to our careers.

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We need to use social media as a support to build real relationships. We start comparing ourselves with others just after viewing their posts while every individual is unique. This eventually results in hatred and jealousy towards others. Social media can affect users’ physical health more directly. Excess social media causes sleep issues and eyesight problems. Further, as I mentioned earlier it causes psychological ailments as well. Turn off notifications and delete excess social media and educate others and our children on how to manage their usage. We all have to know how we can restrict ourselves from excessive use of social media. We can practice alternative screens (Reading offline materials like magazines, books, newspapers etc.) and free hobbies like gardening to deviate from using social media available inside the screens. There are several ways to tame your social media use. Keeping apps out of sight will help you not to switch to them. Several apps are available to help you limit your time on social media, for instance, ”Social Fever” is a marvellous Android app that helps users to track and limit their social media in a few taps. The application is designed with advanced algorithms to help you manage your time wisely and connect with real life in the best way possible.

So, let us try to control the use of social media for a better and healthy lifestyle.

Columnist:
AGM. Iklas.
Faculty of Applied Sciences,
South Eastern University of Sri Lanka.

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