What's the first thing you do when you wake up, or what's the last thing you do before you go to sleep? For many people, the answer would be the same. Checking their phones. Or, more specifically, going in Social Media.
Nowadays, social media plays a great part in our lives. Many probably don't spend a full day without checking Instagram or TikTok. Even though we don't realize it most of the time, we are all addicted to it. Some people feel like they're missing something when they don't check what's going on the internet for a few hours. These apps are created to make someone lose their sense of time and make them not realize how long they have been scrolling. That's why usually when you just open Instagram "for a few minutes," you end up scrolling for hours and don't even realize it. This is achieved by the algorithm that uses short videos so you don't feel like you've watched a lot. Because you just see videos that are mostly a minute long, and you just keep scrolling. Think about it. When you put on a movie that's 2 hours, you get bored after a while. But when scrolling through 100 videos that are about 40 seconds long, you don't even realize how many videos you watched. This also makes our attention spans shorter. Since we're getting used to seeing new content every minute, we're losing our ability to focus for longer time periods. Which affects our performance in work and school.
But is it all bad, of course not. We can absolutely say that social media makes life easier in many ways. Now you can reach people even across the world, talk with them and make friends. It also allows the information to spread quickly. This way, people get organized a lot easier when it comes to important acts. In the last few years, being an Influencer has also become a job. This way, people can do whatever they like to do and earn money from it. So, your hobbies can now become what you do for a living. And rescue you from being in an office 9 to 5 for the rest of your life. So, we must appreciate how social media creates a network where you can be who you want and reach people who have the same interests as you.
Aside from all, we can not skip the fact that it is also a form of entertainment. A place where you can get away from the busy pace of life and just let it all hang out for a while.
In the end, I believe it has its pros and cons, just like every other thing we do in our lives. The catch is if you learn how to control it rather than it controlling you. Social media can become something very useful.