With exam season rapidly approaching, many young students will be strenuously attempting to remove as many distractions as possible. It has been proven that one of the biggest causes of procrastination is social media.
An article from ‘Social Media Today‘ stated that the average teenager can spend up to 9 hours on social media in a day. 72% of adults are on social media sites with 18-29 year-olds making up the percentage of 89% of these users.
Why does something like social media cause such an addiction?
Frank Ocean – Be Yourself:
“Listen, stop trying to be somebody else
Don’t try to be someone else
Be yourself and know that that’s good enough
Don’t try to be someone else
Don’t try to be like someone else
Don’t try to act like someone else, be yourself
Be secure with yourself
Rely and trust upon your own decisions
On your own beliefs”.
I’m going to dedicate this article to the 81% of 13-18 year olds that use social media. The 94% of us on Facebook and the growing number of users on twitter that keep up with the latest trends and political issues. And I will not forget the 19% who remain somewhat untainted by the risk of social media influencing one’s thinking.
It’s incredibly easy for us to lose ourselves on social media, to think that image is so much more important than personality when we try to gain followers on social media websites such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc.
Instagram is a site where you are judged solely on how you look first and foremost, in truth resembling when one meets another for the first time in reality.
Imagine this: your personality is tangible. It is the first thing someone sees about you.
Your strong points, your desires, your passions but also your weak points, your fears, your flaws – how many followers would you get then? Would you be so bold enough to post pictures and videos of the inner aspects of you? Not just what people want to see.
Reflecting on this, wouldn’t you rather work on your inner self first, eventually realising that how you look to the world isn’t really that important if you are content with who you are.
Social media does have its plus sides in sharing what’s going on in the world thus keeping us informed on global affairs. In Britain, social media is listed fourth as a potential influence on voting – after the TV debates, newspapers and election broadcasts, and just ahead of leaflets through the letter box. This does go to show that social media can be influential in a useful way, in informing people on the right political decisions to make for the country they live in.
67% of adults are on Facebook using it as a platform to stay connected with their friends and family, and 43% of the population has their own virtual world.
These sites are ours. So how much of who we really are do we allow the world to see?
Think about it, are you pretending, portraying yourself in a light that you know others will like or are you in fact just simply being yourself? If you are yourself, then great! If not, could constantly being connected to the world taint one’s journey in truly becoming/ being themselves full time?
Even older adults are using social media fairly widely; 60% of those ages 50-64 and 43% of those 65 and over are on social media networks. We are all so connected to each other on the virtual world, but in reality, is this the same case?
I use dear Frank’s lyrics in this article as I believe it is a message we must all try to bare in mind if we ever feel like we are trying to keep up pretences, and feel as if we can’t articulate certain things on our social pages because we are afraid of what other people may say or think.
Don’t try to be someone else.
If you feel as if you have to keep up pretence in your virtual world, and it starts to leak into your reality, take a step back and take some time out for yourself. Social media will always be there; you can make as many accounts of you as you wish.
But in essence, there is only one of you.
Make yourself your primary focus. Your mindset is so fragile, put that first, don’t get lost in the hype!
Take some time out to talk to YOU! See how you’re doing without the influence of the virtual world.
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