Alexis Fecteau – The Dangers of Overusing Social Media

 

It was my friend Alexis Fecteau who first made a comment about my social media usage, and he was absolutely right, I was beginning to get a little hooked. Alexis and I were at lunch at I must have spent at least 80% of the time with him on my phone, at the end he politely said that there wasn’t much point in coming for lunch, because I didn’t really give him my time. After that day I felt terrible and I began to gradually reduce the amount of time which I spent on social media, and now I only have one profile which I check every couple of days. Since reducing my social media use I have noticed some big changes and it is clear that I had no idea the impact that this was having on my life.

There are many dangers of using social media too much, and this is what I have noticed since stopping.

Less Concerned

Social media has shone a light on more areas of the world than ever before and that means that we now know so much are about world events. The problem with spending too much time on social media however is that you start to feel constantly sad or worried about the plight of things in other areas of the world, things which you really cannot do anything about. This is not to say that you should ignore problems or laugh about other people, but if there is absolutely nothing you can do about it then there isn’t much point in getting yourself worried about it, or stressed out.

Presence

What Alexis said to me that day was absolutely right, I was never present with my friends when I went to see them because I was too occupied with my phone, an awful thing for someone to have done to them. The worst thing is that on those occasions, I’d be snapping shots of us all together and uploading it like we were having the time of our lives, when in reality that would be the only time I took my hands off my phone. You have to be present with people and if you are stuck on social media it won’t happen.

Pressure

There is enough social pressure in this world without adding to it a bunch of people who present a fake version of their life on their social media pages. Very few people online are honest, the majority run their profile to show off a life that they actually wish they had, and this makes so many people feel under pressure. There is pressure to take the right photo, to write the right thing, to wear the right clothes, take the right vacation, it is just too much. When you stop using social media you begin to think more about you and your decisions, rather than doing things which you think other people will approve of.