Hey folks 
There is no iota of doubt that social media has become an intrinsic part of our lives. To say otherwise will amount to saying two plus two isn’t four. It has been tossed around over the last one and a half decade. It has facilitated the creation and exchange of ideas so quickly and widely than any other traditional media. It has made information easier, faster and more accessible.
In 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti, many of the official mediums of telecommunication were down. The rest of the world couldn’t grasp the full picture of the situation. Social media platforms were employed and the rest, like they say, is history.
To sheepishly rejoice at the use of social media is to be ignorant of its consequences. Most people believe that social messaging and the likes have more benefits than consequence. However, the bitter truth is that it can be harmful as well, just like there are two sides to a coin. Thus, social media has its vices, too. As a tool, it is up to the user to decide what to do with it exactly — just like a knife can cut onion and slice plantain; it can also be used to hurt others.
One of the many consequences of social media is that it has captured and locked down the attention of many students. Students waste away their precious time on social media. Lots of students would rather use Facebook instead of facing their book. Many use WhatsApp while neglecting what’s happening around them. In addition, according to SocialMediaToday, teens spend up to nine hours per day on social media. According to this same site, the estimated projection of time spent on social media across different platforms is reported below. For one spending forty minutes per day on YouTube, such user will spend one year and 10 months in a lifetime. For one spending an average of thirty minutes per day on Facebook, such user will spend one year and seven months in a lifetime. If these figures are summed across all other social media channels, an average person would spend the number of years equivalent to what will take a fresher to graduate from a university. Again, many users are so engrossed in social media that, instead of paying visits to relatives during festive periods, many would only send “Beautiful Whatsapp messages”, thereby neglecting the necessary. This has thus far strained human interaction.
Furthermore, social media is an easy platform to spread and spew hate speeches, propaganda and all sorts of fallacious information. An unscrupulous element could sit in a corner of his room, bored, and just decide to cook up such stories that read: “If you sincerely love Almighty God, send this warning to all your contacts...” Or perhaps it may read: “Do not buy tomatoes coming from the North. Report reaching us is that terrorists have infected it." As spreading such fallacious information is not only wrong; it does also generate hullabaloo. In fact, many of us are guilty as charged. We do not only forward as received but also do not bother to read the content, let alone checking its authenticity.
As humans, we are not only going to account for our deeds hereafter, we would also account for the time we spent and how well it was spent. How regretful would it be that about a decade of the total number of years spent on one’s sojourn on earth was wasted online? One does not need rocket science mathematics to accede to the fact that social media is alarmingly addictive, and that it has totally annihilated the beauty of everyday interaction. It has not only divided our world but also given to us another world which is entirely different from ours. It has brought us closer to those far away from us and taken us far away from people who are actually closer to us. It is interesting to note that despite 30 billion WhatsApp messages sent per day, 40% of our social media users say they feel lonelier. If this is not a different world, I don’t actually know what it is.
Again, according to the Network Hub Software report in 2014, of the top ten most visited website globally, four of them are social networking and entertainment sites. As if all these are not enough, it has added intellectual indolence and killed the mastery of the art of writing. It was Professor Albert Mehradian in his book “Silent Messages” that averred that 93% of effective communication is non-verbal, predominantly by writing. Abbreviations like brb, ttyl, lmao, etc, have also taken over the lingo of the youths, such that students no longer know how to spell or express themselves aptly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ours is an age and time that social media has become an intrinsic part of our lives so much that our lives now revolve around it. We live in a time and age where every second we are tweeting and glued to our phone. And many a time, we share too much information than necessary with too many unknown people. If we don’t tread the path with consciousness and caution, not only would our time be wasted, it would also be filled with unfulfilling moments. If all these are not checked, if we do not reflect on the consequences of the unhealthy use of social media, our world would become alien to us.
REFERENCES
- Evan Asano. “How much time do people spend on social media?” Retrieved from www.socialmediatoday.com January 4, 2017
- “The negative effects of social media on individual” Retrieved from www.bartley.com
- Raymond Tay “Impact of social media on society” on November 14, 2010
- Nick McGillivray “What are the effects of social media on youth?” Retrieved from www.turbofuture.com October 12, 2015
- Onele Peter-Cole “Students’ development in the digital age: Intellectual freedom or frivolity” Retrieved from Line from the fount
- Adekunle Adebajo “Is the internet a blessing to mankind?” Retrieved from Line the fount
Image Sources: www.pexels.com