Week 1B: Social Media Use Today

My instant thought when I think of social media is Instagram and Facebook. I don’t know if that’s because of my age or whether its because they are the only two platforms I use regularly. I enjoy social media platforms and I like that is has given us access to a world which once never existed. I do, however, seem to view it in more of a negative light than a positive attribute to society.

Social media today is everywhere, there is no denying it. Our phones, our TV’s, our tablets, laptops, computers and any other electronic devices I have yet to hear of. The instant access to social media intrigues me as I remember a time when a laptop was a state-of-the-art product and if you owned one then you were extremely lucky. Social media allows us to access our friends, families, colleagues, and even pets at any time of the day from any location, but I still can’t help but think of this as a negative addition to the way we live.

Let’s take a look at the negatives. First of all, there is this well-known phrase of ‘Insta vs Reality’ and when I think about this saying, it brings me a wave of sad emotion. Its sad that we have created a world that is deemed ‘perfect’ and people of all ages, demographics and race feel they must live up to these social media expectations. This mentality of living in the Insta perfect world, means that our reality is not something to be proud of and we should be achieving more. Whether that be in relation to our bodies, our holidays, our careers and even relationships, this creation of a perfect life by social media automatically has a negative impact on our real life deeming it ‘not good enough’. I watch people whenever we go to a restaurant, and the majority of the younger generation are on their phones, videoing and taking pictures of their food, so even when they are enjoying life, they aren’t happy until they have received their reassurance from social media.

Although there may be several negative arguments regarding the use of social media today, there is no doubt that it still brings us many positive aspects in every day life. As a keen traveller, I have explored many countries in the world, some as a solo traveller, some as a group traveller but the ability to use social media to stay in contact with my family and friends has to be one of the most positive uses, I can think of. I can be in any continent, at any time of day and I can access information and even live viewings of my nearest and dearest with platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and video calling. Even as an international student living in San Diego, I wonder if I would have made this decision if it wasn’t so easy to keep in touch with people back home? Not only does it give us access to the important people in our lives, but it also allows us to keep in touch with people we had the pleasure of meeting years ago. It allows us to ‘catch up with friends’ without having to visit them in person.

One key aspect of the use of social media today I would like to touch on before I finish, is the ability to access any information at anytime in any location. We have the ability to work remotely, to access pictures, find answers to questions by doing very little research, to watch our pets, and to buy products almost instantly. Although this seems to be a positive by allowing us to achieve more in a typical day, for me, I can help think that this makes us less appreciative of things that take time and that we don’t want or need to make the effort to visit our friends or families in person or take time to sit at the dinner table as a family. I love social media and I use it every day, i just want to make sure I am aware of the negative impacts it could bring about.