Before delving into the Influence of Social Media in our lives, it is necessary to know what social media is.
Social Media is any digital interactive virtual platform that allows users to own a private account where they can create and share their digital contents, air their view on any subject, join a virtual community or own one, connect with distant family and friends and also make new ones.
It is a virtual world that has different features and gestures for interaction. One of such is called an Emoji. These are little Icons that can be used to communicate a monumentary emotion during a conversation between two parties in a social media platform. They are used to express feelings, even though many times, the emotions communicated might not be true.
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There are many platforms that can be considered to be social media. They are as follows: Facebook, WhatsApp, Hive, Tiktok, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter) e.t.c.
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IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Over the years, social media has had a positive impact in our lives and there has been a rise in the use of social media. People are signing up to different social media platforms because of the benefits and opportunities they offer. This includes promoting businesses and organisations, news updates, account monetization, chatting, low voice/video call rates, live streams e.t.c.
Amidst these benefits are also some negative impacts too. Social media can be very addictive if not properly managed. Cyber bullying has been on the rise, exposure to inappropriate contents, cyber crimes e.t.c
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I started using social media platforms since 2011. The first social media platform I signed up with was 2go. 2go was one of the predominant social platforms at that time. We used it to communicate with each other while in secondary school. I got to know about Facebook later and I signed up since 2013. This is approximately 13 years I started using the social media and it has greatly impacted my life positively and negatively too.
(This was a recent post I made on social media about some pictures I shared Nine years ago)
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On the positive aspects, I have made connections with great people I have not met before. I have also worked across this platform for people I am yet to see. The social media platform has helped me gain visibility and to let the world know who I am and what I do.
On the negative aspects, I have been scammed through social media platforms too. Met some toxic fellows and got addicted too. I have suffered social media addiction for long and currently I'm on my journey to breaking free. I discovered that I cared more about the virtual world than the physical world. Started loosing good relationships too because I was not available anymore as I used to. So I decided to take breaks, get more engaged with physical activities and be more productive.
Yes there are benefits when we give alot of time to social media, we should also note that we are also loosing out on other aspects of life. It is wise at this point to balance everything up.