Living Safely with Social Media Means Keeping Perspective

Ally Basurto, J1 Guest Writer

As much as technology has evolved and helped our society, it’s also a burden. Many people have become glassy eyed and glued to the small phones in their hands all day. Some stare all day long at a computer screen for the long hours of work and only occasionally stop to rub their tired, red eyes. Yes, technology such as computers, phones, televisions have definitely made individual’s lives easier. You can get so much more done on a screen than writing it down. A quick swipe and you can check the news and weather and be up to date on everything going on in the world. With just a tap of a button, you can call anyone at any time. Being able to communicate with others, who may be thousands of miles away, has been made efficient.
However, technology has also created a blessing and a curse: social media. Social media has allowed many celebrities and people to share what’s going on in their lives and new ideas are sprouted and shared. You can connect with others and new inspiration emerges—from recipes, to outfit ideas, to music, and just things that go around in our daily lives. The only problem is, new standards are being provoked on these apps. People want to share their “perfect” lives, and when most individuals start to scroll through the app, they find themselves feeling compared to them. It makes them feel like they don’t have or aren’t enough, which isn’t true. Social media has allowed people to create the “perfect” image they want of themselves. But reality check: nobody is perfect. That’s what makes us all unique, and this promotion of say celebrities with perfect bodies and skin paints the image for teenagers, or anyone, that we aren’t the standard on how we dress or look like.
Cyberbullying has also arisen thanks to new social apps being created. Those who don’t like something or someone can quickly write and post about the person or thing for everyone to see. But these can be anonymous and hiding behind a screen allows these people to show more confidence in knowing that they can’t really see the person they are hurting. Online, you can post anything and it will be there forever, and you can’t stop people from saying or commenting negative things on it. There have always been nasty people in this world, but with technology, cyberbullying has become more common because it’s easier for anyone to communicate with those online and say hurtful things.
With the modernized world we live in today, the younger generation is starting to grow up with these things. Social media and cyberbullying is shown to children and playing on devices and video games has become the norm. Most kids play games all day on their technology, instead of taking a walk outside or playing in their backyards which psychologists and doctors say is a necessity for children growing up. Because of this, the obesity rates have increased over this modern era. Ideas of having to have the “perfect image” of yourself are also being shown at a much too young age. Communicating face to face with people has declined because now it’s just easier to tap on a screen and talk from there. Many experts say that lack of physical connection in real life isn’t healthy. Plus, social media has become toxic and has affected many people’s healths leading to things such as depression, anxiety, and stress.
It’s not that we should cut out social media and technologies all together. But limiting the use of these apps and games that cause kids to be addicted to their phones or glued to the screen would be a good idea. Things like going outside and talking to more friends and stopping the promotion of a “perfect” person would be a start. There are so many benefits that can be focused on and such simple ways that can decrease the amount of toxicity the apps bring. We need to start to realize how much safer things were before socials were invented or how much less negativity there was. Too much of something is never good for you, and in this case, too much technology is never the answer.