Social Media: Can I live without it?
Jul. 29, 2022 .4 min read
You can hardly meet anyone (both old and young) these days who is completely ignorant of what social media is. One way or the other, it has become the order of the day, used for a wide variety of things, and is not restricted by the borders of a country. In fact, social media is a major reason for the spike in the purchase and use of network data. These days, one of the things some people use to gauge popularity is how well you’re known on social media besides the fact that some of these mediums now provide opportunities and features that guarantee income for users. What is this social media and can anyone live without it?
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks (Wikipedia, 2022). Investopedia (2021) divides social media into basically six types: social networking, bookmarking, social news, media sharing, microblogging, and online forum sites while thoughtfullearning.com (2014) says sharing, learning, interacting, and marketing (SLIM) summarises the functions of social media. From these, we can deduce that the major backbone of social media is that it creates a platform for interaction. The type, ingredient, and result of interaction, however, differ from one social medium to the other.
With this brief insight into what social media is, can I live without it?
First, whoever thinks that death will come calling just because you stay clear of social media platforms for some time needs urgent help. An addiction has grown. A lie has been taken as truth. The purpose is lost. Life is almost over! Secondly, life existed before the advent of social media, and even now, life will continue to exist should there be a reason for not accessing it. However, looking at these times we are in, should anyone really live without social media???
The answer is NO.
From Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter to TikTok, Blogs, and other media of social interaction, there is a lot we can do with these that will enhance our lives spiritually, physically, intellectually, financially, etc. We should take our eyes off the inappropriate uses that are prevalent and begin to harness the purpose for which these tools exist. There is a great responsibility on you who uses these platforms to, before anything else, define who you are, what your principles are, why you are on each platform, and what you intend to gain from being on each platform. Don’t be quick to jump on trends without first evaluating them against these questions. Stop and think through before posting any text, audio, video, or images, be sure it is something you can afford the whole world to see. A click to “post” on social media definitely reaches more than those in your network and will be seen even years after you’ve left the earth. As rightly said by theneweconomy.com (2018), the Internet never forgets…
So, if you have been holding back because of a wrong ideology, it’s time to step up and be part of this century. Explore the platforms and deploy them as tools for sharing, learning, interacting, and marketing. Social media is not bad; it is your usage that makes it good or bad. On the other hand, if you have reduced these platforms to just interaction, and posting of pictures/videos, you need to step up your game and maximize them. In all, balance is key! Your use of these virtual interaction tools must aid and not deplete your ability to share, learn, interact, and market physically. You are not living online, so let your online activities remain secondary to your existence. This will reduce the typical concern that most people are not in reality what they are online.
I’ll reiterate this: Social media is not bad; it is your usage that makes it good or bad.