Hooked on to the cyber world
The urge to update our Facebook statuses or upload pictures or share jokes there becomes our prerogative and main aim. Even the smallest of things that we are doing; what are we eating; what are we drinking, etc, have to be at any cost be reflected in our statuses
Addiction is nothing new; it has existed since time immemorial or has taken a new dimension in shape of social media we use nowadays. The critical aspect is to define addiction in light of social networks and our alienation from physically interacting with people that has left us stuck up in a virtual world. It is an isolationist trap that is hedonistic and one which has an impact adverse impact on our personality.
The biggest gripes of using social media are its addictive nature that is prevalent nowadays. As we are absorbed into the world of social media; ie Facebook or either Twitter; the impact of it is deep and far-fetched; initially. The persistent usage of Facebook or Twitter makes us antisocial elements and make us devoid of reality. We tend to start living in a virtual world of our own surrounded by virtual friends and in the awe that we are so happy and contented and sharing our experiences and interacting with others. There is a tendency to absolve ourselves of the crime that we are spending half of the day on these social networking websites wasting our valuable time loitering!
The urge to update our Facebook statuses or upload pictures or share jokes there becomes our prerogative and main aim. Even the smallest of things that we are doing; what are we eating; what are we drinking, etc, have to be at any cost be reflected in our statuses. The sad part is the more we do this; the more we move away from reality. The addiction can get so bad at times, that if we visit a place away from home which has no internet access or mobile internet fails us, our desire to login and use our favourite social networking website can overwhelm us and take us to a point of frustration and anger. It is termed as fear of missing out (FOMO).
The frustration and anger only grows which won’t diminish with the passage of time as we keep on using these social media websites. Our addiction can take center stage and is reflected by the fact that we start neglecting our nearest kin and closest friends and it hampers our relationships in the long term. The neglect is felt by the ones nearest us and cannot sideline the fact that we have started ignoring them in the pursuit of our virtual friends who have gained more significance and importance over them. The end result is relationships suffer; problems develop and our ignorance only worsens it. Social media addiction can cause people anxiety, mood swings and depression in worst case scenarios. It moves us away from the things we loved and the tendency to start taking everything on these social media websites can be catastrophic. It deviates from the path set for us and causes us to miss deadlines at work, avoid our studies and not being aware of what is happening in our surroundings. Everything seems surreal when addicted to social media websites. And let’s not forget about health issues that can develop as a result of this addiction. Different kind of ailments can develop and the prolonged exposure and lack of exercise can be detrimental to our health.
Having had prolonged exposure to using Twitter over the years, I let it override my life to the point it became “dictatorial” on the mind and soul. I got sucked into it willingly and knowingly, because I sought comfort and gave me a sense of belonging that had never been experienced before. For me, it became a ritual to wake up early morning, power on my phone and fire up the Twitter app to see what was happening there.
As evident, it is indicative of a compulsive behavioral disorder that is spreading due to adoption of technology in our lives. Usage of social media is intoxicating and mentally satisfying, it becomes a critical part of our life. A moment’s detachment can cause things to go awry, make us impatient and a nervous wreck. I became obsessed to the point that everything around me seemed to be dependent around it and in its absence, there was a feeling of being dysfunctional. Excess of technology usage only induces self-harm, creates situations and amplifies feelings of being neglected, damages our real-life relationships to the point of no return. In my case, it has worsened and lead to the development of anxiety disorder and partial depression. We are happy to become social recluses, find comfort in checking our phones while sitting at the dinner table or amidst a conversation taking place. Technology isn’t bad, it is we that need to realise that its excess usage can wreak catastrophe in our lives.
The key questions that can arise for this addiction to social media websites are; do we dislike the people around us? Are we bored? Have we lost interest in things we once liked and made us happy? Are we trying to escape from something? The starting point for all of us is to acknowledge the fact that we are indeed addicted to these websites and take steps to mitigate its effects. Firstly; the starting point is to reduce our urge of logging in to these websites day in day out and try to replace this habit with something fruitful. It can be anything whether it is reading a book or listening to music or anything that we like best. To subvert its effects; we have to keep ourselves busy and focus on balancing our social media life by meeting up with people in real life having similar interests. That will negate the impact of us relying totally on social media websites for interactions and learning to strike a delicate balance between the two.
And lastly the age-old technique is to limit our usage of these social media websites to a few hours a day and only during that time when we are free. Moderation is encouraged in the use of all things we do in our daily lives, especially in relation to social media which can practically take up all of our time without us even realizing. The crux of the matter is to strike a delicate balance between all things, good or bad, but it depends on us; solely!
