The Millennial Virus

Today we live in a world where all it takes is a few taps on a cold, lifeless screen to change a person’s life: i.e. the power of social media. Social media is the millennial way to make friends, keep tabs on their lives and update friends and/or family about your life.

Social media websites are known for the tremendous impact that it has on our culture, business and world at large. The most popular social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat and Messaging Apps. In fact, these sites are the most popular ‘haunts’ that can be found on the Internet. However, despite the number of benefits; it is also important to bear in mind the flip side of the story.

Social Media is known to lead to high levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression, envy, narcissism and decreased social skills. There are many introverts and socially reclusive people who place too much emphasis on virtual interaction and ignore the fact that there is a real world that also exists outside.

Social Media is known for having created a paradox effect: i.e. it gives off the illusion of offering many choices while making it hard and difficult to find viable ones. In short, although it has been very effective in connecting the world at large, it has been found that conversely people are far more disconnected than ever.

People seek validation through electronic likes on Facebook, retweets, pluses and even shares. It basically helps people feel better about themselves and more connected with others. This in fact masks a person’s true identity because in reality he/she may actually have a lot of emotional insecurities, which are getting hidden.   

Heard of selfies - those mages that are clicked by a person using a smartphone or webcam, especially for posting on social networks?  This digital age also has people from all walks of life and ages posting images of them pouting in front of the camera. 

As people spend more and more time trying to get that perfect selfie of themselves, comparing their social lives with their friends and aquaintances through the  pictures that get uploaded on Facebook and other social media sites, one can easily get trapped in an endless cycle of insecurity. In addition to this it fuels a person to become narcissistic.

Social media also plays on our emotions. Every single day, there are people who use Facebook to figure out what is happening around the world (as a news source). Facebook took advantage of that and introduced ‘reactions’- an extension of the Like button to give people more ways to show their reactions: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry to a post in a very quick and easy way.

How often has it been when you could just wake up in the morning and NOT check your mobile- to see what updates happened while you were asleep? Is it even possible to switch off completely from the social media world? These are some questions that only time can answer; most of which are firm decisions that a person has to make.

We all are victims of this ‘millennial virus’ and its addiction is unavoidable. However, but there are plenty of positives and a person has to be extremely careful about the information that they share online.  So, what do you think, is this addiction a  good one?