This technological era has been blooming for around a decade now with advancements in nearly all areas of our lifestyle. Not just for a few million people, but our entire race.
Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook... The list goes on and on by the years. With these developments, new careers are founded, allowing a surge of new, futuristic opportunities. Those with social anxiety have new ways to make friends and get in contact with those they find hard to in person. And mainly, it’s a global phenomenon that’s allowing everyone such as businesses, celebrities and even designers to connect with the rest of the world.
Even now,during COVID-19 and its disastrous effect globally, social media has been a tremendous way ro encourage people to remain in lockdown whilst also providing entertainment to aid our boredom that seems to be at its peak.
However, it’s profoundly critical that we should analyse and identify the risks lurking along this social media platform. And if we really dive in deep and discover the ugly truths, we can truly see how the pros don’t exactly always outweigh the cons.
To begin with, hundreds of millions of people that use social media can’t come to terms that it’s a grave addiction. Even if they do, it doesn’t stop their addiction. But who can exactly blame us- we’ve become so used to our lives in which technology plays a colossal role. It’s practically impossible to stop without feeling disconnected from others or feeling that impact in your life that urges you to pick your phone- just for 5 minutes.
Harassment. Bullying. Trolling. This doesn’t only occur to celebrities who receive thousands of threats and trolls per day, which I can only imagine causes as much stress as it sounds. But what about us regular people- it affects us too and in some ways, even worse. As we aren’t known to millions of people like celebrities, the harmful messages we get sent would often come from those we know. In some ways, this feels more personal, thus more mentally damaging.
It’s of the upmost importance that this upcoming generation analyses these consequences of social media and try to mitigate these impacts as much as possible. Instead of further trying to improve technology and make advancement, why don’t we work on making it a safer, more comfortable place for people to connect.
Bhavna Bhaskaran
