SOCIAL MEDIA DE-ADDICTION

SOCIAL MEDIA DE-ADDICTION

1.      What is social media addition and how do you know that you are addicted to social media

Spending more than required time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, etc. An unhealthy dependence on these interactive platforms leads to Behavioural problems especially in teens and young adults.

Checking and scrolling through social media has become a popular activity for kids. Today even an eight years old kid has an account on Facebook and Instagram they know how to make reels, post a feed or a story. At a very small age, they isolate themselves from the real world. They are rather interested in making friends online than making friends in real.

Being overly concerned about social media, the inability to stop or curb to log on to social media, and spending so much time and effort on social media comes in between other important aspects of life.

Addiction to social media is like any other substance abuse.

Signs that you are addicted to social media are:

1. When you get up in the morning, the first thing you do is check your social media.
2. Spending more time on social media than pursuing a hobby.
3. When you don’t want to go out with friends and family and just stay at home and check social media.
4. Feeling irritated or anxious when you cannot use social media.
5. When you use social media to cope with negative emotions.
6. You constantly think about how your post should look, which image, what caption, what statues need to be posted, what memes need to be shared, and then constantly check how well your post performs.
7. You think you heard your phone buzz when really it didn’t.

 

This unhealthy relationship with your phone and social media is called social media addiction.

 

2.      Negative impact of social media

Spending too much time on social media has a very bad impact on children's bodies and minds. The negative experiences one faces when you overindulge yourself on social media are:

·                     Insecure about your life and your looks: It is easy to manipulate the pictures we post on social media. Seeing how other people are looking, the way they dress, their appearance adds a feeling of complexity to you. In the same way, seeing just a highlight of others' lives, you feel insecure. The feeling of envy or dissatisfaction when you see posts of friends or celebrities.

·                     Mental health: Social media addiction has a huge impact on the mental health of a person. The continuous distraction of social media decreases the attention span among kids. People who regularly post on Facebook, Instagram, go through a lot of stress and anxiety. The stress of how their posts will look, how will people react, whether it will live up to the expectations of others or not. All this leads to stress and anxiety in people.

·                     Fear of missing out (FOMO): It is a form of anxiety that is the most widespread negative effect of social media on society. The idea is that you are missing out on something important when you see others are having fun or having a better life than you have. This leads to low self-esteem and increases your stress and anxiety levels.

·                     Cyberbullying: People make fake accounts, make friends, and then betray and embarrass them. Passing offensive comments, spreading hurtful rumors, lies, abuse which drive people to hurt themselves or take their own lives. Cyberbullying can leave a lasting scar on the mental health of a person.

·                     Unhealthy sleeping patterns: Spending too much time on social media leads to poor sleep. Especially when you use social media at night when you decide to sleep. You feel that you will spend only five minutes, just checking the notifications but later you realize that you were mindlessly scrolling through posts. This affects your sleep pattern.

 

3.      Ways to break social media addiction

It is very important to find out ways to reduce social media addictions. Some of the ways are:

·                     Turn off social media notification: ‘Do not Disturb’ is one of the solutions to the problem of social media addiction. The constant beeping of notifications f social media can stop when you switch on Do not disturb mode on your phone. This helps you to concentrate on other tasks and not get distracted easily.

·                     Get a new hobby: It is better to keep yourself busy with activities you like to do like dancing, skating, reading, playing basketball or football or cricket. Keeping yourself busy like this will increase your physical activity and you will be physically and mentally fit. Pursuing a hobby will take away most of the time that use to spend on social media.

·                     Limit screen time on social media: Most phones allow you to set a time limit for using social media. The app will automatically block if you exceed the time limit. This is another best way to limit your social media use.

·                     Spend time with friends and family: Plan a picnic or outings with friends and family. It is better to stay in touch in person than on social media. You do not know what is happening in another person’s life through social media. When you meet your people in person then you understand their real feelings and emotions.

·                     Delete social media apps you don’t use: there are apps that you do not use for months. For example, these days Facebook is used less as compared to Instagram and Snapchat. It is better to delete those apps that you don’t use often. It reduces temptations to scroll mindlessly.

·                     Social media detox: It is important to challenge yourself not to use social media for a certain amount of time. For example, ten days of detox from social media. You get time to focus on good things and not fear what other think about your posts and how others react to your posts. There are other important aspects of life which you can focus on.

 

4.      Social media and cyber-crime:

More and more people regardless of age are joining social media. People are connecting with hundreds, thousands of friends and followers spread across multiple profiles. The most targeted social media sites are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.

With the increased use of social media, there is an increase in the number of risks. These risks are:

1. Online threats, cyberbullying, and stalking: The most common crime on social media is threatening people online, harassing people, making personal remarks, abusing, making fun of others, hurting the emotions of others, stalking, and invading personal space. Sometimes it can become so serious that it can lead to murder, rape, or any kind of physical assault on the victim. This can have a huge impact on the mental health of the victim. It is important to report such cases immediately so that police and the cyber cell can take appropriate action towards them.

• Posting inappropriate videos and photos: Making fake accounts and posting something which can hurt the sentiments of others. It can be related to religion some violent activity or pornography content that harms the minds of people.
• Hacking and fraud: Logging into someone’s account without their permission or behind their back or making fake accounts to trick people and posting embarrassing and inappropriate content on social media is a punishable offense.
• Buying illegal things: Connecting on social media to buy drugs or products that are banned or harmful in nature is another online crime.
• Robberies: Sharing net banking transactions or OTP or hacking bank accounts and stealing money from accounts.
• Fake relationships: By making fake accounts people make relationships, whether it is friendship or being more than friends and hurting the feelings of others. It is another type of fraud that is common. Just for having fun people make fun of other person emotions.

 

5.      Precautions while using social media

Yes, technology is important, using social media is also healthy to interact with others, but to what extent? We don’t know what are the intentions of the person sitting on the other side of the computer. With the increasing popularity of social media, there is an increase in the amount of risk involved. To make the best use of social media while avoiding the risks, users need to follow safety tips. These are:

• Do not share too much information: Sharing little information about yourself for your friends and followers is okay but one should be cautious about what information you are posting. Sharing your address, phone number, bank details or any information that can lead to the risk of identity theft or fraud should not be shared.
• Adjusting privacy settings: Nowadays Facebook, Instagram has the option to make your account private, so that people who are not added to your friend's list cannot view your profile and have no access to your information. Privacy settings allow you to block accounts of strangers or report any action of the stranger which makes you uncomfortable. One should log in and adjust their privacy settings.
• Beware of who you are connecting with: Just for the sake of increasing your friend's list of followers, you should not add strangers to your profile. You should not add people you do not know. 
• Verify your connections: Some people make fake accounts so it is important to check the authenticity of the account that claims to belong to a friend. For instance, there are fake accounts of celebrities and you feel you are talking to them and you share your information which can later cause problems like fraud or extorting money in name of other people.
• Be aware of what posts you are liking and commenting on: some people can pretend to be you and comment on something unacceptable and fraud just for entertainment purposes. You should be aware of that.
• Keep strong passwords: Security is important for a social media account. You should choose a strong password that will prevent hackers from gaining access to your account. The password should not be less than eight characters and should include numbers, alphabets, and characters.
• Block unfriendly followers: Some people make remarks that make other people feel uncomfortable. Users should know how to block such people on social media.
• Understand what is a good chat and what is a bad chat: You should know what questions can be asked in a conversation that does not make the other person feel uncomfortable. Asking so many personal questions or commenting on the physical appearance of any person is not acceptable. You should maintain certain boundaries while having a chat. Proceed with caution.