Social Media-Good or Bad?
There’s no question that social media has dramatically affected all of our lives. However, the real question we should be asking is…is it a good effect or a bad one? Well, if you ask me it’s a bit of both.
Social media allows us to connect with others. Whether you’re connecting with family from across the Pacific or just stalking that perfect celebrity you love (we all have one), it still provides some type of tangible connection. These connections may land you the dream job of your life or just allow you to escape reality for some time. At the end of the day, the thing that matters is how MUCH you let it affect your life.Â
Trust me, I know how easy it is to get way too deep. The moment you see that one person like that other persons post you click on their name and you find that other person you want to stalk and an hour later you’re watching videos of the most random thing in the world. While we all wish we could say we’ve never done nothing of the sorts, we all have. This is where we really need to check ourselves. Is it worth spending hours on end getting too deep in Instagram? Would you have finished that assignment earlier? Who knows?
I can say that I have been that person that gets way too deep on social media. It happens and when you finally look up from the screen you ask yourself “where the hell did the time go?”. After these moments, I swore to myself I would never do it again. Of course, it happened again but that’s just because notifications are designed to be looked at immediately. In Max Stossel’s video, he explains just that. Notifications are meant to be annoying to get you to look at whatever the notification is. Notifications are the trigger. And that is exactly why we find ourselves, hours later, way too deep.
Having access to the internet is great. If you don’t know the answer to something, easy, type it in Google and you’re good. The internet allows us to expand our knowledge, to an extent, and learn something new. It all depends on the person searching. If you’re searching for juicy celebrity gossip, Google has it. If you need a tutor or help with an assignment, Google still has your back.Â
This is great and all, but I personally believe it limits life experiences. If Google can give you all the answers, then why mess up and learn from your mistakes? I think the Internet provides such a great resource, but it needs to be used as just that. Life experiences are going to be what mold you into the person you become. Life experiences can’t be taught from just making a Google search.
Emma Rathbone’s article had me saying “ain’t that the truth”. She explains how before the Internet, our connections with real-world things was much more intense. We would play outside, read a book, or play “school” in the basement. We had an imagination and that seems to have diminished from social media use. I remember what it was like to be a kid with no phone, no internet and no social media. I had quite the imagination, but I never needed anything more. I lived my life with what I had and loved every minute of it. There was no pressure to look like the gorgeous supermodel or to have the perfect Instagram aesthetic. All I cared about was my imaginary students learning the math I taught them in the basement.
This specific blog post has made me wonder what we would all be doing in our free time if we had no social media. Would we have a wider imagination? Be outside more? Have better social skills? Or would we be wanting the connection to social media we have now? All I know, is that I will be much more aware of how often I check my phone. Let’s focus on the social interaction and the face-to-face skills we can learn by putting our phones down for just a second. You could be missing out on something, who knows? Â
Max Stossel-Â https://vimeo.com/370135963
Emma Rathbone-Â https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/26/before-the-internet
