BY SAMIA ASIM
The usage of social media has been a part of our daily routine, our fingers start moving as early as we wake up in the morning. We are now addict to social media Apps. There are numerous advantages of using social media. We can say that fair use of social media is beneficial and never harmful until limits are observed keenly.
But, the question is, had we ever thought of dark side of social media? May be yes! However, we intentionally or unintentionally ignore the bad impact of social media which is quietly ruining our lives.
When we discuss dark side of social media, one can quote heart-wrenching videos or pictures going viral on social media. It affects mental and physical health of the viewers. The three-year old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi was lying dead on the beach. That image made global headlines after he drowned on 2 September 2015. This image shattered the sentiments of many parents especially mothers who had lost their children and found their life in grief, sorrow.
The most common and the worst aspect of social media is Cyber bullying or cyber harassment which is also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers who excessively use social media. It’s when someone bullies or harasses others on internet by posting rumours, threats, sexist remarks, a victim’s personal information and hate speech. It harms the victim’s self-esteem, confidence and may also lead to suicide. Many people suffered hard through this because of their leaked videos and pictures.
The ratio of people facing depression are mostly found on mobile phone. It is a fact that time will never be the same in anyone’s life; sometime he would be facing financial problems and obstacles in his life, feel down and becomes more insecure and devastated after watching their friend’s pictures on facebook or instagram.
Moreover, we unintentionally involved social media too much in our life that we hardly get time for our loved ones, especially our kids, parents and close family members. We do have 800 followers on instagram and facebook but not none of them with us in real life when we need them most. Slowly and gradually it’s also killing our kids’ physical activity time as children are more likely to indulge in gadget, playing games on tablet. We shouldn’t let social media take over our happiness, mental or physical health, by limiting our usage.
(Samia Asim is BBA (hons) in marketing and finance. She is living in Jeddha for the last 10 years. She is a passionate writer. She can be reached at asimsamia96@gmail.com)
Also Read: Peace And Depression
