Society has changed a lot in the last 20 years, thanks to major technology developments, such as the Internet. In the past two decades, the World Wide Web has become a second world for us. A life without online communication has become unthinkable and some people even base their social life and self-esteem of their status on social media. The entrance of the Internet and social media have been a true break through and gave us more possibilities than we ever could’ve imagined, but it also has become a major flaw in today’s society.

Thanks to the Internet, it’s possible to communicate with people from all over the world, which can be a lot of fun. Via social media it’s easy to maintain contact with your friends and having online social media profiles can help you be creative and express yourself. On the first sight, social media seems to be something completely innocent, something fun, something to enrich your social life with, but in today’s society, it seems to have taken over our lives.

It’s a little big world

The Internet and social media sure have their dark sides. Often, during lunch breaks and social events, people are bend over their phones and it seems like their ‘oh so social’ device is glued to their hand. By having instant access to the Internet and to all your social media accounts, it may seem like you have the whole world in the palm of your hand. Literally. But hasn’t all this social media use, our obsession with our online image and the urge to constantly share what we’re doing and with who, made our world smaller? It has. Because we constantly have the fear of missing out on what is happening online. Why don’t we fear missing out on what’s happening in our real life? I repeat: our real life. Because after all, the Internet world is a fake world, created by humans to interact with our friends, not to eventually take over our lives.

The addiction

Of course, I am realizing I am being super hypocrite, because I myself make use of social media on a daily basis too. I sometimes talk with people who live far and I love it. I share what I do and express myself online and I enjoy it. I talk with my friends online and it’s fun. But I also, in someway, don’t like social media (which is quite obvious, I believe, or else I wouldn’t be writing this article). Sometimes I honestly feel like it’s taking over my life. In my experience, online and foreign friendships never last long and I’ve come to know that trying to make them last is really tiring. And above all, online friendships should never replace your real life friendships and online communication should never replace the amazing moments you can have in real life.

Is it just a matter of banning social media from your life, then? Maybe. Must we all reduce our Internet use and see our friends more often (in the real life!)? Definitely, but the thing is, it’s easier said than done. I can’t help to feel a little sad when I scroll through my Facebook timeline and see that all my so-called friends are having so much fun in their lives, while my life feels so super boring. And I can’t resist to upload a picture of my food (#deliciousfood) on Instagram after I’ve had a nice dinner with my friends. And I can’t keep myself from starting conversations on What’s app with certain people when there’s not even a particular purpose of sending them a message. Sometimes I basically choose a person on What’s app over my classmate in real life to talk to. I know it all sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s all just so addicting! And I know I am not the only one.

There are so many articles on the Internet and so many videos on Youtube about how social media is influencing our lives in a bad way and although those articles and videos are definitely an eye-opener, they don’t really change our addictive behavior. And in my opinion, that’s because it is almost impossible to quit social media or reduce the use of it. The Internet has become a major part of our lives, of communicating, in the business world. Internet is the future. And all we can do is prepare for it.

Social media rehab

On the other hand, it is possible to reduce your own social media and Internet use, if you want to. You can quit cold turkey and abandon your phone from your life forever – or for at least a week, just to experience what it’s like - or you can begin with simply not looking for new, online contacts anymore. Another thing you could do is to go through your Facebook friend list, for example, and delete all the people you don’t really know or talk to. Begin with easy steps and build them up. Eventually you’ll notice that you are not so much of a ‘social media slave’ as you were. After all, we aren’t really slaves of social media and the Internet, right? We make the choice to use social media, after all.

You could send yourself to ‘social media’ rehab, if you feel like you have to. After all it’s also about personal experiences. If you are fine with the way you make use of social media, there’s nothing to worry about. On a bigger scale I find it something to worry about, though. In my opinion, today’s society could definitely use a social media rehab program, or something.

Now, excuse me, somebody just messaged me. Nice.
Or not?

This is originally an article I wrote for school (English class, obviously) and I just wanted to share it with you.