Social Networks As A New Kind Of Drug
Nowadays social networks have become an integral part of people's lives. Along with the natural human needs the necessity to use social-media have become a necessary part of life.
Undoubtedly, it is noticeable that networks have a huge functionality, which brings people a lot of benefits. However, it is important to mention the negative impact of social networks on different aspects of people's lives. In this article I will try to consider them u sing a survey of my friends and other statistics.
A social network is a website designed primarily for communication between Internet users. In addition, the social network allows you to post personal information, create a portrait of a person, find the necessary contacts, acts as a repository of multimedia information, and can perform many other functions. Thus, we follow the news in the lives of our friends, view photos and videos added to the network, listen to music and communicate. However, let us take a look on a different side of this invention of mankind.
Why am I saying that social media is a new kind of drug? There are several explanations for this:
- A drug is what enslaves a person. The substance, which is initially used in small quantities, and then the need for it is growing sharply. A person always wants more, he does not notice how the drug begins to dictate him the need for him.
- It is very difficult for a person suffering from drug addiction to get rid of it. A drug for him is leisure, and an attempt to calm him.
- Drug addiction causes a number of complications in the body and psyche. And it's not just about dependence and addiction.
- Without the use of substances, it seems to a person that the world is not interesting enough. A drug adorns the world of a drug addict, gives him euphoria from self-awareness and his actions, but not for long, therefore a new dose is required.
These and other descriptions of harmful substances in general resemble the same consequences that social networks carry. Did not recognize? But it is, and this is a frightening fact. Social networks embrace our society and become for it the main part of life. This is evidenced by the statistics of polls in 2019 by WEB-Index (Russia, February 2019, 12-24 years old, Monthly Reach). 58% of Russians spend 60-80 minutes per day on social networks. To confirm this, just look at the statistics on your phone. Now almost every gadget is able to provide its owner with his statistics of time spent in each application.
Social networks are gaining our attention for a very long time. A familiar situation: instead of doing homework, cleaning the room and other activities, you sit on the same place for an hour or more, surfing through Instagram or VK. Or you update the dialogs, although nothing comes there. Sometimes you can spend several hours with the phone in your hands. This is due to the fact that in our time social networks are in our mobile phones, not in a bulky stationary computer. Even children have access to social networks, since entrance is free and very easy to enter. Even now, while I am writing this article, I accidentally look through Instagram and get stuck in it for an hour!
I conducted a survey among my friends, and here are some negative consequences of social networks, according to their opinion:
Impaired memory and narrowing of the imagination
Nowadays for us it is not very necessary to memorize a large amount of material, since we already know that everything will be in networks, posted on our pages or saved into special bookmarks. At the same time this problem is caused by social noise.
Low security
Everyone is afraid of losing their personal data.
Dependence
As I was describing drug’s affects on people, social-networks become an integral part of our real life. You want to post something, like someone’s pictures or watch a video from Youtube.
Decreased self-esteem and self-doubt
As a general rule social networks are showing as perfect people with perfect live. Each user begins to doubt his abilities, because he compares himself and someone else's success. However, many people easily mistake the highlight reel for a behind-the-scenes image. This can cause dissatisfaction, discontent, jealousy, and other negative emotions.
Depression, feeling of loneliness
As a previous point, when you follow someone else's life, it seems to you that a huge wall separates you from people from Instagram. For the first time, the relationship between depressive states and time spent on the Internet was discovered in 1998 by American psychologist Robert Kraut. He called it the Internet paradox: a technology that was supposed to give people unprecedented freedom of communication led to the isolation of its users.
Increased anxiety, stress
Negative news, comments and shocking materials make a person worry about his life. For example, cyber bullying - aggressive or derogatory comments on social networks - is especially common in adolescent communities.
Procrastination, loss of time
Social networks force the user to be in a “social ambiguity” situation in which a person constantly switches from chatting to reading posts, surfing the web and watching videos. People who do not know how to control themselves (and according to research, there are many such on social networks) cannot force themselves to stop and do important things.
Creating an artificial environment from which it is hard to get out into the real world
In the case of virtual dating it is noticeable that for people who participate in it it can be really complicated to start relationships in real life. Another case is according to Photoshop. The major part of network’s users is using retouching brushes and other tools to change appearance.
Sleep impairment
Some are on the phones right up to sleep. However, scientists have already proven that sleep directly depends on the presence of gadgets in front of a person’s eyes. The more intense and stronger is involvement before going to bed, the worse and shorter the sleep will be.
However, only three out of twenty-six people surveyed said they were completely ready to abandon social networks in favor of their recovery. The rest doubt or are sure that social networks are their life, work, study and leisure. But all respondents are confident that all these factors have a negative impact.
There are many ways to help reduce the impact on people. Limiting the use of social networks is an important and necessary step. Youtuber shared his detox experience for 30 days. It is useful to see and see clearly how life will change for the better. Check his profile -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z8_YhWoq2o
You cannot even refuse entirely. It is important to remember that real life is much more interesting and important than the virtual world. Highlight all positives and negatives of social-media and consider what outweighs more. And remember, that the less time you spend in networks, the more opportunities open outside of them.
Text by
Alexandra Belyaeva