How your life can improve if you use less social media?
In today's world, many of us are glued to various devices, from mobile phones to computers. We use various applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, LinkedIn, Instagram and many others to communicate with our friends, family, and colleagues. Social media is supposed to help us socialize with those around us. Looking at the statistics, overall 77% of Americans go online on a daily basis, including 26% who are online almost constantly, as well as 43% who say they go online several times a day, and only 8% who are online about once a day, as Pew Research Center found. But does social media make us more social or it`s quite the opposite? The Next Web (TNW) has set out to conduct a small study involving 50 people who tried to live without using social media. Here`re some of the benefits they experienced:
1. Being together with others physically
The respondents in the TNW`s survey said that without social media they have experienced a different way of socializing that's focused on expression and physical touches like hugs, kisses, etc that have increased the feeling of bonding and connection. One major difference was that when people are always online, usually communicating with others all the time through social media applications feels like a burden that causes them stress and anxiety. The participants of the TNW`s research reported a sense of calm when being with other people, probably because they could focus on the contact without being distracted by interactions with others.
2. Switching off can feel good
Perhaps, the prospect of going offline is scary for many of us. It's because nowadays everything happens online. Business or pleasure, you may miss out on opportunities if you`re never online. While this may be true sometimes, switching off from time to time may feel good as it allows you to spend time with yourself, disconnecting from the constant and stressful exchange of information that's not always useful for you. The respondents who took part in TNW`s survey said they felt neither sad nor excluded when they chose to go offline.
3. Stop browsing and enjoy the moment
Many of the respondents who agreed to switch off enjoyed better vitality because they had time to connect with the world at the moment. So, forget about surfing on the Internet before going to bed, because the screen light is preventing you from relaxing. The full article about TNW`s survey on switching off from social media can be accessed here. Have you ever tried switching off? If yes, please share how the experiment went and what you learned from it. Read the full article