The topic of social media addiction is not one l should be writing on because I was one of the people who spent about 10 hrs a day patrolling social websites, generating contents almost every 5 minutes and contributing to the wealth of such big social network owners like facebook, google plus etc. But why should l even start a discussion about the very disease l so enjoy?
Well, I have the experience of not living on social sites as much as l used to do in 2014 and have discovered some tremendous changes in the way I think and even realize many things about my self. So who are the victims of this social media and network addiction disease? I think the whole society is a victim to this new disease and one problem is, this disease is not one that can be realized by yourself once you have acquired it.
So how do you know you have the disease? There are lot of attributes and most of them is associated to how your brain thinks about life and social network. One theory behind the conception or birth of social network is to bring people together or reunite people after they have been apart from each other for a long time. This idea is one of the greatest things in our generation but it could also lead to negative activities in someone’s life. Not only did l hear on the news last time of a case where a woman sued her ex husband because the man who was on restraining order from the ex wife but sent a Google plus request to her. The man pleaded not guilty in that case because he said he did not send the invite but rather Google did it on his behalf. This person could be telling the truth or a lie but how do we normal people judge if the man is telling the truth or not? Well, once you experience it, you know it. There are situations you get friend requests from some weird or unknown people on social network and you wonder how the heck this person knows me. If you think about it well, you know a social network is not successful if it doesn’t have lot of users who have connections and keep them active generating contents for ads for the site. So to achieve their success, social network owners will take any step to create that opportunity to connect with others such as suggesting people you may know and some went to the extent of sending friend requests on users behalf. It almost sound criminal to me but l’m not sure the laws abiding this social network system and the only option left not to be a victim is not to be on social sites which is almost impossible to most of us in this age of technology.
We have generated contents from all angles of our life and post on social networks for various reasons. Such as childhood stories, family stories, our education, sports and many other activities in other to engage others in our network. It almost sounds like we are desperate to have a conversation going based on our status on this social sites or we turn to be social entertainers not getting paid. Some communities on the internet go to the extent of generating hoaxes such as death of famous people thereby attracting traffic to their site and engaging users on their social pages. But the point the average person misses out is if you do not have anything to sell or a site to promote with the social contents you generate for any of these sites, you are almost working without getting paid because it is true that your content posted on these sites generates income for network owners. The biggest problem with the addiction is our less productivity due to paying so much attention to what is going on social networks instead of focusing on the most important things such as work, school and thinking to make a better life.
I have watched some people still in college or high school spending lot of time on social network almost commenting, liking, recommending or posting updates on hourly bases. I think this is a whole messy distraction that will not produce very good graduates or leaders of the next generation. For example, if you are already not good in calculus and you went to class focus on what is going online on your social network, its obvious you will never get better in calculus, unless you shut that social network mentality down and focus on using your brain to do some real mathematics.
Technology is good and evil and humans have the sole responsibility to chose what to consume at what time. Business owners have the mind set to make money, they don’t care about your success or your future. Its all up to each of us to decide what to do with our life at every moment we still breathing. Now, the getting fat part of social media. I know this is crazy but l think social network and technology itself is getting most of our current generation fat and lazy. People are not getting up to go to their friends house or go out for walks or visit community centers to engage in activities that will improve their life. They are sitting on the couch almost all day fully engaged in social networking and playing games. The truth is, it is satisfying to most people and it make them feel their life is full by just sitting on these sites all day but while your brain makes you feel that way, your body is not active and all that food will be stored as fat.
I am not Anti social network but just as l love it, l hate how it has taken over most of our lives to the extent we almost live our life online than in real life. We feel obliged to keep conversations about our online life going and forget about our real life. How many physical friends do you have that you actually give each other that much attention and love on daily basis? Probably none for most of us. Don’t get it wrong, networking is one of the greatest things apart from being skillful in a career but some networking ain’t worth anything. Google plus has some communities such as fitness and health communities where users post success stories on their weight loss journey. Such networking community will motivate lazy and unmotivated people to do something about their life to get into better health but what about someone who just sits reading posts and updates from other community members on their weight loss journey but ain’t doing nothing about their problems?
You have probably started hearing the hype about the next galaxy S5 and Apple iphone 6. It is rummored the Galaxy s5 will have an eye scanner and some cool things to go with it. You are probably asking what about it? well, you know there are some people who will also spend all day following, researching news about this cool gadgets but when the real thing is out, they don’t even have the money to afford it? Technology is a two way sword, you have to be careful how you use it. It could make you dumb while you think you are the smartest person in the world. If l ask can the number 111117778889944 be divided by 3? What will be your first reaction? Calculator please lol. That’s what most of us will do because even though we have graduated with big degrees, technology has kept us from using our brain efficiently to easily solve problems and we tend to rely solely on technological devices to live. Can we survive when the internet crash ? I bet most of us will go crazy for the rest of life.
So how do you know if a number is divisible by 3? Well, l have to say this is not common to common people, you have to get some mathematical education in life to know the answer. Its actually very simple, just add up all he digits in the number and see if the outcome is divisible by 3. For example the number 111117778889944 = 1+1+1+1+1+7+7+8+8+8+9+9+4+4 =69. Now we have 69, if you can’t determine if 69 is divisible by 3, then you do another adding for digits in 69. 69 = 6+9 = 15. Now can you determine if 15 is divisible by 3? If not, then do another add up for the digits in 15. 15 = 1 + 5 = 6. So is 6 divisible by 3? At this point if you don’t know, then you have a little more maths left to go back to school and finish.
So can the social network or media addiction be cured? I think it can, first step is not to delete your social network accounts. nope, its just like alcohol or any drug addiction. You can’t solve the problem by totally withdrawing from it in a single day. You have to take baby steps. Those steps must be created in your mind as the savior of your life or it won’t work. Keep your social network but mentally schedule your time to spend on such sites. This will go a long way to help you understand how much precious time you waste and how unhealthy you become just sitting on this sites. Find real friends in life and hang out with to do fun activities. Get a gym membership and attend group training classes. Find things to do to get occupied mentally so you don’t feel bored.
Life is a choice so what you decide to do with yours is all up to you. There will never be any regulation on how much time you can spend online so don’t think the cops will be knocking on your door because you spend too much time on social sites. Truth is, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what is online, what matters is your real life, so its better to get one and make it important. You may promote your business or sites online and generate income for yourself, that’s a good idea and beneficial.I have some people also become social network pastors preaching their various r beliefs, that’s a great thing too. In another news, l heard someone was killed by a friend she met on a social site so please do not put all your information on these sites. l use social network to promote my blog or try to inspire others or educate them on various things l know or believe in general and sometimes what is actually going on in my life.
This post is not meant to discourage any online social activity, it’s purpose is to shed some lights on the other side of social networking that most of us failed to see. This post is not 100% accurate on the issue of social network addiction. I did not perform any studies to come out with these ideas expressed, this is just my perception of the issue and it may be totally different to others.
Have a good life.
