Unhappiness Caused By Social Media.docx

UNHAPPINESS CAUSED BY SOCIAL MEDIA-DOWNSIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA INSTRUCTOR: KAMRAN AHMAD SUBMITTED BY: AABGEENAY KHAN CSID: 4608054 IQBAL HOUSE

The dawn of the 21st century brought with it the ubiquitous social media. The tide that started with the social media platforms like Orkut and MySpace got a whole new life when Facebook came into being. With around a dozen popular social media platforms today actively connecting people across different continents and globes, it is pertinent to evaluate that how human beings have become enamored with maintaining an alternate social media reality and losing onto what is actually happening around them. There is no denying the fact that this era of social media dominance has categorically changed the way of communicating and reaching out to other human beings in an unprecedented way. But this also cannot be denied that much of this has been achieved at the cost of human happiness along with mental and physical wellbeing. The generations of youngsters and elders alike acknowledge the fact that much of the pervasive unhappiness and depression they face in life are in some way related to the obsession with social media but no conscientious effort is done to redress that. One big factor that contributes to the above state is a generally low self-esteem that is advocated by social media. The picture perfect Instagram and Facebook feeds and profiles, with everything from personal to professional life in place, creates a chimera which feeds upon the self-esteem of the viewers. The social media users are hence driven to identify their worth by comparing their life with those around them on social media. This fundamentally paralyzes the viewers to think in a rational and logical manner hence making them slaves of social media. Social media users tend to miss out a lot on the real world relationships. A great amount of time is spent upon maintaining a picture perfect profile, gathering the next hundred likes and filling up feeds with everything happening around oneself. This essentially drains one’s capacity and energy to concentrate upon real life relations. We have witnessed how people today have less time for each other, how parents and youngsters alike seem to be hijacked into the world of virtual platforms and how every human act today is dictated by the viewership it would garner at the social media platforms. This subsequently pulls the individuals into a vortex of unhappiness where there are no emotional relationships with warmth, care and affection; where happiness is derived from the number of likes and the strength of unknown strangers as friends. When used in excess, which is often the case, social media affects the mental health in deleterious ways. Sporadic bouts of depression, paranoia, hysteria along with acute unhappiness are caused by social media when used in an unregulated manner. It is not unsurprising since a regular social

media user spends around seven to eight hours on these platforms often ignoring other things and factors which are vital for leading a healthy and contended life. Social media has unarguably brought unhappiness and depression into human lives but most of it has been the consequence of direct human actions. The unregulated use of any technology is bound to have its effect upon the generations to come. It is high time that human beings realize the cost of it and take the right course.