Relying heavy on Social Media
By: Imran Reshi
As there are many assets and blessings in the life of every individual, in the form of relationships, be it the relationships by virtue of blood (biological relationships) or as a result of social interaction (teacher, student, boss, subordinate, colleague, friends and the like). One of the best and closest relationship after blood relations is the relationship of friendship.
A friend is an individual with whom we prefer to share our feelings, sentiments, time and energy with. He is the person selected by us, out of the thousands of people, after fully observing and verifying him, to be an indispensable and inseparable part of our life.
Following the love and company of parents and siblings, it is the friend who understands our feelings and sentiments more than anyone else in this universe. And even in some cases, a friend realizes our adverse situation and the inner pain and agony more than our family members.
A friend is someone with whom we can share any feelings without having the feeling of disrespect, sense of inferiority and fear of any hostile reaction. As a matter of fact, a friend is regarded as, the brother from another mother, owing to his selfless and unconditional love, care and support in every step of our life be it our personal or other social endeavours.
Since the advent of social media and the introduction of social media friendship or online friendship, our generation sometimes fails to understand the essence of friendship.
Our youngsters somehow fail to determine the difference between the real and sincere friend and the online and virtual friendship. They spent same time and energy with online friends as they do with the friends in their practical life. Even they sometimes deem it compulsory and obligatory to maintain online friendship as if they have spent decades with them and are indebted to them, even without knowing their whereabouts thoroughly.
The youngsters, owing to their immature mind and salad days, share their confidential and delicate information with them via calling or texting. However, it is not always necessary and justifiable that the same friend will turn out to be their confidant and trustworthy person.
Moreover, taking online friendships seriously, not only puts their character and dignity on stake, but it also creates anxiety and stress, in their minds. For example, our youngsters, feel it compulsory to have chatting with friends on regular basis and when somehow it could not be possible to catch up with their friends someday, via what’sapp or other chatting app, they feel guilty and sometimes sad and bored.
Our generation has made some social media activities mandatory on themselves like Sharing reels with each other and tagging and mentioning others in facebook stories, snapchat stories and what’sapp status’, which in reality, benefits them, in no way, rather it consumes their time like the fire consumes the dry wood.
And when the same thing is repeated on regular basis, it drains out their mental peace and composure, which in turn leads to stress and anxiety. The other side effects of the same may be the adverse effect on vision of their eyes, the audibility of ears and the posture of the body, circulation of blood and absent mindedness.
Sometimes they become slave of the other friends reply or reaction to their unnecessary and meaningless text messages and/or graphics messages. It makes them eagerly wait for the other person’s replies and reactions, and in case it happens on the contrary, they feel sad and disparate.
Consequently, they lose their self-confidence and inner peace for they have made their happiness and tranquillity confined to the comments and compliments from these online friends which in reality does not hold any special meaning and significance in their life, so far as their future and the purpose of life is concerned.
When these things happen with our youngsters, it is quite possible that they might behave in obstinate and stubborn way. They develop a tendency of disobedience and deviation from the social and moral values of the society. They always seem confused and lost from the real situations, be it home, school, college, office or other such affairs.
Sometimes they indulge themselves in immoral and sometimes illegal activities to come out of this depressed condition expecting some relief and repose, unfortunately they end up making the situation more worsen than former. They show lack of interest towards their studies and the important affairs of their life and their family.
If maintaining social media friendship with few friends has such devastating and adverse effects on person’s body and soul and when the same friendship is extended to hundreds of friends on facebook, snapchat, Instagram and other applications with such concern and concentration, just imagine the damage it causes to the cognitive skills and overall growth and personal development of our youngsters.
In order to promote social media apps, the owners of the same, have spread a net of some fictitious incentives, so as to keep it users active all the time. They provide the users with some minimal fan badges, streaks, stars and the like, to keep them engaged with these activities and keep their revenue generating at continuous pace.
Unfortunately, our youngsters are deeming these badges and streaks as if they are some gallantry awards conferred on them by the country, for doing some heroic and Hercules adventures.
The need of the hour is to make our youngsters understand and realize, the value of their time and energy. It is the duty of the parents and teachers and the significant persons in our society to make the youngsters acquainted with the proper use and the disadvantages of excessive use of social media.
It is not only necessary for their individual growth and development but the growth and advancement of the society in general as well. When our youngsters are possessing sound mind and body, it makes them capable of making right decision at right time and thereby contributing to the development and advancement of our society in every respect besides, their personal peace and prosperity.
