A new drug has entered the market and it’s not what you think. Social media has become a giant and it’s taking over people’s lives.
For Generation Z, being one of the first generations to grow up with technology has had its ups and downs. Many may argue that social media has brought us the ability to stay connected with others, even when apart. Although this may be true, it has also brought serious negatives to the table. A great example is the degrading of meaningful connections and conversations with others.
Humans are a social species. It doesn’t matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert. Humans are driven to socialize. Could you imagine not talking to anyone? Ever?
Although online messaging counts as communication, it’s not the same. Talking through the phone limits the tone and emotion your words have. Being able to read body language and see emotions creates a personal connection to what the other person is saying. If you read the same conversation over a text, you can’t really understand what they are feeling. You can only imagine.
Important abilities such as body language are learned through practice. If you always communicate online, you never learn to master them. Abilities such as the one mentioned are important for our future. If we get comfortable with social media, we struggle when we need to have a real, face-to-face, conversation.
Many people prefer to communicate through social media instead of face-to-face. This is because it has made the process simpler. The nervousness, awkwardness, and everything that comes with an in-person conversation are erased by online messaging. You can analyze and even ask for help to respond to a text, while you can’t do that while talking in real time. But, we may be losing our abilities to communicate outside of a screen.
“Most teens now say their favorite mode of communication is texting (35%), according to a new survey released Monday from Common Sense, a children’s and media advocacy organization,” said Katy Steinmetz, a Time magazine correspondent.
This has impacted many, but teenagers and young adults are still the most affected. As we have grown with these platforms, we have created a routine around them. If you ask any teenager what he or she does first thing in the morning, most of them will tell you that they check their social media.
We have positioned social media as our main method of communication. Every time we have the option to talk about something, either in an online or in-person, the majority of the time we will choose online. It varies depending on the person, but on average, teens have been preferring online over in-person methods.
Not long ago, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp all went down. I can tell you from my own experience, I freaked out. I didn’t know what to do. Every time I picked up my phone, I was tempted to go to one of these and scroll through.
I’ve become so dependent to my phone, to the point where my whole day was ruined because of a simple shutdown. I tried to leave my phone alone, but as soon as I started doing something else, the urge to look through my phone always came back.
Although this is my own experience, many people around me felt the same. My roommates had a similar experience. So did my family, friends, and basically everyone who uses social media on a regular basis. While these huge platforms were down, we saw on other platforms how people were having breakdowns. Some joked about it, some were horrified, but in the end we all thought the same thing: “what am I going to do now?”
The power that social media holds over our lives is clear now. Take a simple shutdown as an example of how society collapses when social media malfunctions. It seems like technology is all around us, and as social media continues to grow, it may seem that we are becoming more dependent on it.
Take a moment to think about that. Then get up, leave your phone, and go enjoy a nice day outside with your friends. You deserve it.