Let’s face it, many of us are addicted to social media. We’re on it every day and check the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and so on countless times throughout the day to keep up with the latest goings-on. We spend an increasing amount of time staring at our phones/computers trawling through news feeds and interacting with others through social media. For many, going on social media is second nature; it’s simply a part of our daily routine and we’re very much dependent on it. But what about giving it up – is it any good for you or is it such a big part of our lives that giving it up would do more harm than good? Is coming off social media good for you?
Yes – it encourages real-world interaction
Social media makes communication a lot quicker and more convenient. Whilst many use it as their primary means of staying in touch with people, it’s not the only way of doing so. We communicated with one another well enough before social media came along, so giving it up doesn’t exactly mean you’ll suddenly have no one to talk to. There are other ways of talking to people besides social media and one of them is real-world interaction, i.e. meeting up and having actual face-to-face conversations. Giving up social media gets us off our phones and gets us actually talking to one another. And let’s face it, we waste a lot of time looking at rather mundane stuff on social media, when we could be using our time in better, more productive ways.
No – we’re so used to it
On the other hand, you could argue that social media has become such an important part of life that giving it up can make some people feel lost. If all their friends and family are on it and they’re not, if they give it up, they’re just going to feel like they’re out of the loop. If it doesn’t cause any harm, why give it up? Sure, there is such a thing as social media addiction, there’s no denying that, but so long as you use social media in moderation and don’t let it take over your life, there’s no need to give it up. You can can still have actual conversations with people and interact with the real world. Social media doesn’t have to replace anything and frankly, it shouldn’t fully replace anything. Coming off social media isn’t good for you when everyone you know’s on it and you use it as a means of arranging your social life and keeping up with people.
What do you think?
Is social media such a key part of our lives that giving it up would cause problems, or would we quickly learn to adjust to life without Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks? Are we too dependent on it? Is it possible to ditch social media when everyone else you know is still on it all the time?
