Britti Aryal

It needs no mention that social media is a virtual network where people interact, share their ideas and exchange information with others from around the world. This is an open book for individuals having enthusiasm to explore things. So, this regarded as a good platform for one and all to socialise. The use of social media has increased for years. Around 3.78 billion people in the world now use social media. This figure accounts almost for half of the total global population. But, the time spent on them is impacting our daily lives considerably.

In the present context, social media is extremely important to people for their creativity. The positive changes it has brought about are quite astonishing. This has made us realise how tedious our lives would be if we weren't introduced to it.

Social networks have changed the whole idea of friendship. It has been possible for us to make thousands of friends on networking sites. It is much easier for us to show our empathy to our loved ones on social media as it offers us a chance to communicate with them. Friends and families living abroad can be kept abreast of what is happening lately. Apart from letting you stay up to date with friends and families around the world, social media also helps you find new friends with similar interests. You can share your joys, happiness, and good times to those you are connected to, and offer emotional support to others during tough times.

In addition, social networking sites enable people to raise important issues and help bring about positive changes in them. Such sites also offer you an outlet for your creativity as you can discover and learn new things.
Anyway, the craze and trend of people to use social media can be taken positively. But its use is also not free from harms. Excessive use of social media sites not only causes physical stress but also increases risk of anxiety and depression.

Substituting social media interaction with in-person relationship has made people infuriated. Sharing daily life stories on social media can make a person egocentric, creating distance from real-life connections. A feeling of dissatisfaction may arise seeing the friend’s photo going on a trip or reading about their indefatigable work life. You may feel inflamed about others living better life than yours.

Sharing innermost thoughts and feelings let you know your weaknesses. Social comparisons done in the name of games like fitness challenges and fashion challenges lead to the feeling of insufficiency. People often post things that attract public attention despite it being indecent to others. The intense rivalry to make as many friends as possible on networking sites has lessened the importance of friendship. The interesting counterfeit thumbnails kept on different sites to gain popularity and hurtful lies and rumours that get spread on social networks may be quite devastating.

Thus, social networking sites just create a virtual world that drastically differs from reality. It isn't a good substitute for real life. It should be utilised for learning and finding out creativities. Only good aspects of social media should be emitted avoiding all the negative impacts it can have on us.