Social media has been on the rise for quite some time. People all around the world are becoming more connected with friends and others through apps such as Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
While these apps are all great when wanting to stay in contact with those we don’t see on a regular basis, people are missing how damaging social media apps have become to relationships in person. Here are five reasons why people should lay off social media and spend more time being present.
1. It’s distracting us from actually spending time together
Have you ever noticed the amount of time people spend on their phones, especially when sitting down to eat with others at lunch or supper?
I know I am guilty of this, but when I go eat lunch with friends or grab supper, I find that my friends and I spend more time checking our social media accounts than we do catching up on each other’s lives. We are all addicted to our phones, and soon, we may actually forget how to meet and talk with people in real life.
2. We’re stalking each other
Why bother having conversations with people when you’ve already crept through their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat story? At this point, you already know everything you need to know, right? What people fail to realize is how surface-level stalking is. There is no possible way to dig deeper into soemone’s life if we stick to simply scratching the surface with these efforts of “getting to know others.”
3. We’re oversharing
Part of being in relationship with one another is being able to share things with others we might not share with anyone else; however, with social media, we have access to telling EVERYONE literally EVERYTHING about our life or someone else’s. Nothing is private anymore.
Once one person knows, there is suddenly a chain reaction, and before lunch everyone at school knows what you’ve been up to in life. When you tell people who are basically strangers specific details about your life, sharing things with those who you’re especially close to begins to lose its value. Social media takes away the bond and connection we have with one another.
4. We’re becoming addicted to attention
You’re lying to yourself if you don’t get pumped when you reach a new all-time high of likes on your latest Instagram post or tweet. All of the notifications, comments, likes and follows are making our brains addicted to attention.
We are constantly looking for the newest way to get engagements on our social media accounts instead of being happy with just the attention in our personal, face-to-face relationships. Eventually, we are going to lose focus of those around us and base our emotions and hopes on our “loyal followers” or “faithful Instagram accounts.” Where is the healthy emotional connection in that? There is none.
5. We focus too much on strangers’ lives rather than our own
It’s hard to focus on ourselves when there are so many people sharing every problem and achievement they have on social media. We are starting to live vicariously through travel blogs and posts instead of actually traveling ourselves. We’re watching other people experience life through our computer and phone screens instead of living in the moment of our own lives and taking our own adventures.
Rather than creating our own memories and spending time with those around us, we spend our days catching up on the latest “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” episodes or trying to keep up to date on the newest gossip of the Kardashian lives. Sad, right?
When was the last time you put your phone down and had a real, genuine and deep conversation with a friend or family member?
Face-to-face connections have become one of the most neglected forms of relationship. Forget about the number of followers and likes you have for a minute and learn to appreciate the true friendships in your life. I guarantee their likes will mean much more, leaving room for stronger relationships.
