When everyone thinks of social media; they think about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc... Almost everyone in this world knows what social media is and how to use it but most users have yet to realize its impact.
I personally use social media myself and if you ask me whether I can give up social media for one whole week; I probably can. It’s not like I’m in love with it to the point where I need my phone with me all the time to text constantly. I’m only a fan. Which is why I said I probably could stay off social media for a week.
There’s a big difference between being a fan of social media like myself and being completely obsessed with it until you feel like you’re going to go crazy - there are people out there who are like that. It is ridiculous to see how much of an impact social media is having in people’s lives.
The latest Yellow Social Media Report released in June last year found that almost 9 in 10 people (88%) have a social media profile in Australia. This figure is up from 79% in 2017 and 69% in 2016, showing remarkable growth over a relatively short period with Facebook being the most popular platform having 15,000,000 unique active monthly users. In saying this, I feel like the people in this generation are so obsessed with their phones to the point where they can’t even have a face-to-face conversation with a friend anymore and I think social media plays a big part in why that is.
There was a time where people were able to have normal conversations with strangers in the train; whereas now talking with strangers would be weird and unusual to humans as they prefer looking at a screen rather than each other.
There was a time where people actually wanted to connect with others through the act of going out and meeting face-to-face; whereas now most of us would socialize with our friends on our phones while staying at home. But can you blame these users?
I mean as bad as social media can be, it has its own benefits and I’m sure it’s the reason as to why people use social media; from the benefit it brings. In Curtis Foreman’s blog “10 Types of Social Media…Benefit Your Business” connecting with people, sharing photos and sharing news are some of the reasons why people use social media. To find out more about the 10 types of social media click here.
Another reason could be the idea of a greater access to information and the convenience that comes along with it.
I for sure go on social media to find out information. For example, if I wanted to know whether my favourite soccer team won last night, I would go on Facebook or Instagram to find out. Not only that but I would also be able to find out the scores of other matches as well.
For others, it could be researching information for their assignment rather than reading huge unnecessary books. In other words, social media has made the lives of people much easier when it comes to being provided with news and announcements; saving them the time and effort as compared to before social media was created.
Social media comes down to the basic desire from humans: the need to connect with others, to be part of a group. That's how humans are like, and sometimes we can't explain why this need for us to feel like we need to connect and socialize exists - life is like that.
When you think about it, it all depends on who are we as an individual and the environment that we have grown up in that differentiates our reasons. As Erik Qualman said “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it”. Whether you like it or not, we live in a generation now where social media is so powerful and unavoidable - it’s literally everywhere.
It has influenced all of us to the point where we cannot live without it. It has changed: how we interact with each other, how we perceive one another and how we live our lives. So rather than focusing on the cons of social media, we should turn our focus to how these networks can be utilized to its full potential.
This is only the beginning of social media and with the constant innovation of technology advancements, its guaranteed that social media will have more of an impact on future generations than ever before.
What do you guys think about social media? How much of an impact has it had on your lives?
Please let me know by commenting below and showing your interest by sharing this post.