Martina Shatti A. Fajardo
Bancal Integrated School
In todays’ society, social media has been one of the widely used medium of communication. It gives us a lot of details and information whether it’s about people, things, places and even events. In other words, it has a lot of use and help to us. But…we all know that social media has also a lot of loopholes or negative effects to us. Most especially when one or an individual is not responsible enough in using it.
Social media, is one of the platforms that gives a big help to us. But as we go along, we’ll find that negative effects tend to be bigger than the positive effects of it. Using it to connect and create friendship with others. It also serves as a way or channel of cyberbullying, trolls, and toxic comparisons, sleep deprivation, and less frequent face-to-face interaction, to name some.
Another negative impact of social media is we tend to spend too much time scrolling on it. Some studies proved that this also can result in symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Here are some ways how this becomes destructive:
- Focusing on the likes and reactions. Some people got the need to gain “likes”. This also cause them to base some of their choices. It includes altering their appearance, engaging in negative behaviours and sometimes doing and trying some risky social media challenges.
- Cyberbullying. Based on some studies, teen girls in particular are at risk of cyberbullying through use of social media. Cyberbullying is associated with depression, anxiety, and elevated risk of suicidal thoughts.
- Making comparisons. We tend to compare ourselves to others in terms of achievements, status in life etc.
- Having too many fake fiends. We cannot assure who are our real friends when we only base our friendship through social media.
- Less face time. Just because we tend to spend more time looking at our cell phone or gadgets, we neglect to spend time to the real people around us. Personal or human connection is a powerful tool that build skills and memories that last a lifetime.
Overall, using the social media requires self-discipline and responsible thinking to weigh and balance if it would bring positive or negative effects to us. Using it in a productive way really depends on us, Humans.
