It is equally terrifying as it is incredible to observe how much social media has become an integral part of our lives. A platform like Facebook alone has close to 2.5 billion users, which is a huge number considering the platform is a little over a decade old. People spend hours every day on different platforms, from Twitter and Instagram to Facebook and LinkedIn. While social media has benefited businesses and people in many ways, connecting people from around the world and creating new business opportunities, it has also had quite a negative impact on our life and mental wellbeing.

 

THE GOOD

Human connection

Social platforms made it possible for people to connect with one another and exposed to a lot of people to different cultures and ideologies that they wouldn’t have otherwise encountered. This opened people’s eyes to a world they’d never known before and showed many that there exists much beyond the boundaries that they have set for themselves. By doing so, those social platforms promoted tolerance and acceptance, qualities the world desperately needs amid many conflicts and much hatred.

 

Preserving memories 

Those platforms also helped you preserve your memories over the years, with documented life events, photos, videos, and much more safely stored in the digital world. You could also look back on a post you wrote 10 years ago to see how much you’ve changed, which is fascinating.

Connecting change makers 

It is easy to want to induce a change in a world as troubled as ours, but that was rather difficult before social platforms and the internet. After they became a part of our lives, it became much easier to connect change makers and those with the desire to do good, which is exactly what TRVST is trying to do. They’re trying to help people discover purpose in collective good and inspire people to find it in themselves the desire to help others and create positive change in our everyday lives.

 

Business exposure

It has become a fact that businesses rely on social media heavily in this day and age to reach new clients. Companies starting out with minimal marketing budget need only create a Facebook page, and they’d have an open communication channel with their target audience, and if their content is powerful enough, they could even compete with heavy players in the field. There are entire jobs right now based on knowledge of social media and how to create successful campaigns on the different platforms to generate new leads for businesses, so basically, those platforms helped create new jobs.

 

THE BAD

Self-esteem

We’re all plagued by more than our fair share of insecurities, and social media does everything to even make things worse in that regard. You only see the good in other people’s lives, with smiles and fancy clothes, and this aggravates your problems with your own self-worth, which is only natural. People who are constantly on social media platforms rarely feel satisfied, and they are often struggling with problems relating to low self-esteem.

Peer pressure 

You see your peers travelling the world while you’re stuck in the same old town, and you like their posts announcing their promotions while you have been in the same position for years. This kind of peer pressure significantly affects people’s mental health, and the outcome is rarely good because you’re exposed to the glamor of other people’s lives on a daily basis.

 

Sleep problems

Let’s be honest; you take your smartphone to bed, and spend an hour or so browsing through the different platforms before you finally let go of your phone to get some sleep. This effect by social media platforms had led to significantly poorer quality of sleep for many people. You’ll find that your sleeping patterns exponentially improve if you start spending less time on Facebook and Twitter before you sleep.

 

It’s addictive 

Does it seem like an exaggeration to you? Well, when was the last time you went a whole day without browsing through Facebook or Instagram? It’s probably been a while. Social media platforms are often described as addictive, probably more than smoking or alcohol. Those apps fill our spare time and kill boredom, but they also form unrealistic expectations about life and how jobs and friendships should be. It has become so serious that people often feel sad if someone unfollowed them!

 

Social platforms have definitely changed everything. While they can inspire and incite the will to become better people, they can also instill dissatisfaction and contempt towards the world and others. It is important that you manage your time carefully on those platforms, and make sure you’re using specific ones that can do you good.

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January 23rd, 2020 by financetwitter

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