There are about 1.94 billion monthly active Facebook users worldwide, while Instagram boasts of more than 700 million users, and Twitter continues its position of strength in its niche with more than 313 million users. If those numbers aren't scary/impressive (scary impressive?), the results of a study made by influencer marketing agency Mediakix are downright startling.
Mediakix calculated that an average person would spend a total of five years and four months of their whole lives using social media - way ahead of eating/drinking (three years and five months), grooming (one year and 10 months), and actual socializing (1 year, 3 months). Social media usage came only behind watching TV (seven years and eight months).
This can be troubling especially now that scientists have recently confirmed 'brain plasticity' - that our brains are malleable: they can relearn, remodel, and rewire themselves. With such a huge block of our lives spent on social media, it is undeniable that we can affect how we think and act with how we use social media. Once we know how social media can negatively affect us, we can implement concrete ways to manage it to our benefit.
Makes you feel bad
This is old news, but ICYMI: social media makes you feel bad, especially after viewing vacation photos of your friends or reading how great their lives are compared to yours. It's not just you, researchers from two German universities have confirmed this.
It's not just stalking those living the high life that can make you feel bad - everyone has their own poison. For a lonely guy, even a photo of a small birthday party can be depressing, and for someone going through a bad breakup, a friend's status change from 'single' to 'in a relationship' can feel like the apocalypse.
The reason for this is simple: what we see online is usually the 1 shining moment of success/happiness, while the 999,999 failures and disappointments are hidden away.
So when you feel bummed out while browsing your social media feed, stop. Realize that these are highly curated (and maybe even faked) snapshots that naturally doesn't capture a person's whole life, and go do something. It doesn't really matter what it is - take a walk, talk to a friend, read a book, create silly comic panels, sing in the shower, cook, sweat it out in the gym - what matters is that you're being active and doing something productive. Live. Do. There's life outside social media and you should live yours.
Makes you spend more
We're usually great at filtering ads; unless it's really fantastic, I automatically ignore ads I see on TV, hear on radio, and see on newspapers. But our walls tend to be softer when we're on social media - we forget that our feeds are flooded with advertisements both obvious and subtle. The videos we share on Facebook, the photos we like on Instagram - more likely than not, there is someone out there benefitting from these posts. Lest you forget, on social media, we, the users, are the product sold by the social media platform to its advertisers. Someone is always selling something.
Some studies have correlated heavy social media usage to lowered self-control, and you can be sure marketing experts capitalize on this. The next time you're about to like something on social media, ask yourself: "what is this video/photo/page trying to sell me?"
- Read More: SOCIAL WORK
Substitutes fake with the real
Speaking of porn, social media is rife with this. I'm not talking about sexual porn (although there are lots of those too). Rather, anything that a person substitutes to the real thing because it's easier can be considered porn. As such, real socialization with actual people = toiling to get the most followers on social media , working to create real romance with a live person = getting your 'kilig' from the Twitter feed of your favorite showbiz loveteam, laboring for your dreams = just getting inspiration from the videos 'gurus' post online
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