The word social derives from the Latin words socius which means friend and social which means allies. It can be asserted that it’s meaning in earlier times is not the same today. Moreover, It is now regarded as a concept in modern times. And so it’s true meaning has evolved more in recent years.

The term social is used in context with humans when they live collectively in interacting populations. And since the definition does not invoke its true nature to be physical or virtual, the virtual nature has taken more literal shape.

Today, the physical world is transcending into a digital one. The society has evolved into the digital world more than in the physical or the real world.

History of Social Media

The early roots of social media can be found in the introduction of the telegraph in the USA in the 1840s, which connected the country. It can be regarded as the first instance of a channel which connected humans over long distances through digital means and in large numbers.

The modern internet came into existence in the early 1990s as a result of a commercial extension of the primary precursor network, which connected only the military and academia in the USA. Before the commercialization, it was only thought of academic and secure space for storage and transfer of information.

By this time, personal computers have made their way into the market and into people’s lives. This event set the stage for the spread of social networking over digital means which could overcome large distances, at high speeds. Emails, invented & introduced in the 1970s for limited use same as the early internet, had become one of the principal means of long-distance communication.

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The same period of time saw the advent of blogging. It helped people understand the true power and significance of the internet. Over the course of time, it underwent many changes in its form and evolved into an online diary where users would keep a running account of the events in their personal lives. Other attempts at social networking platforms have happened and ran until the rise of Facebook in 2005.

With the foundation of Facebook in 2004, Twitter in 2006 and Instagram in 2010 and a few other channels such as Snapchat, LinkedIn, Tumblr & YouTube, etc, social media and social networking space had changed for good.

Social networking tools and applications have benefited us in many unfathomable ways. They’ve made our lives easier and brought us closer.

But as these social media applications grow effortlessly and relentlessly, so do the hazardous issues rise in number, day by day. They have become more than our lifelines. They’ve become an addiction.

The Ingress of all things Digital

By the means of its many channels and forms, social media has formed a firm & quiet grip on our actions as well as our day to day being. What started off as a simple tool for social interaction and networking among humans, has now evolved into a whole new entity by itself. The mere availability of such a resource fuelled by a flood of cheap and easily accessible means have transformed it into an unavoidable dependency.

Many facts and figures make a shocking revelation about the sorry state of our livelihood that is entangled in a web of technology.

The state of the digital world is changing very fast and showing considerable results every few months. The ubiquity of the internet, mobile potential, and social media are converting a good half of the global population into a social media addict.

There are over 3 billion daily active social media user globally in 2019 which is about 42-45% of the global population. This is after an approximate increase of about 8% in one year. More than 90% of this number consists of only mobile-based users. This is made possible by the continually improving mobile possibilities for the users to access social media anywhere and anytime. And it is only half the picture.

This prompt availability of digital resources is driving us towards an unyielding addiction. The real ugly picture is exposed by the statistic which uncovers that a person spends an average time of 135 minutes per day using different social media channels. This doesn’t include the time spent on the internet that is beside social media use. This means an average person spends nearly 3-5 hours of his awake time on the internet. In the Philippines alone, the average time spent on social media by a person nears to 4 hours every day, which is almost half the time of an average workday.

These facts are the face of a much bigger conundrum which has birthed a range of modern-day issues. Creation of information and data is surging day by day. Almost every user knows the power of the internet today, which now exists in the palms of his hands. Creating and then sharing or multiplying that information has become as easy as throwing a rock. Everyone wants to do it and there is no control over it. Despite its ubiquity, information is an asset that is getting bigger by the day in value and quantity.

Information and the People

Mountains of information are being created every day getting accumulated on these different social media channels. Now, this information plays different roles in its lifetime. Sometimes it becomes misinformation and results in hoaxes and hearsay. Studies have shown that continuous exposure to loads of information over time leads to modification of our thought process. The way we think about different things, people, and events or incidents tend to change as we are subjected to a certain type of information time and again. This change may or may not be positive in every aspect. Many Instances of unprovoked violence, rioting or protests are an outcome of such misinformation. Somehow the common sense fails to prevail in such matters.

The decadence of common sense has been steady since with the rise of social media. People are posting and sharing unwanted and useless information across channels without verifying its credibility. This lack of common sense is persistent within the lesser-educated populace.

The higher educated are not very far behind in these matters as expected otherwise. The majority of such people present on social networking platforms never hold themselves accountable while creating or sharing unwanted and useless or false information.

The Real-World Menace

Higher educated or not, everyone wants to enjoy their time spent on social media. Declining sense of responsibility or accountability towards a fellow human being has given rise to ‘cyber-bullying’. A serious issue growing more grave each passing day, cyber-bullying is a classic example of declining common sense and accountability. Many suicides reported globally are the result of cyber-bullying, i.e., the act of bullying a person on a social networking platform. Not only suicides, but it is also associated with depression.

The onset of depression due to social media is on the rise not only because of cyberbullying, but also, as a result of the modification of our thought process which is a product of spending too much time on social media. Various studies conducted have associated prolonged use of social media with depression and anxiety owing to poor sleep quality and low self-esteem, often in teens and adolescents. A variety of mental health issues have come upon the field of view due to the use of social media.

The fear of missing out aka FOMO is a phenomenon which has been linked with extensive social media usage. It is a mental health problem which also decreases the concentration levels of an individual forcing him to check his digital devices every other minute.

Different studies have shown that there is a link between a certain form of narcissism and social media activity. This may result in rising of a less compassionate society which is not a very far-reaching scenario as of today.

Aside from mental health issues. Social media has generated a few other issues which are on the rise in the world. Due to narcissistic tendencies and other habits linked with social media use, some people are habitual of announcing their every action, event and where about on social media. This is a gift for some criminal elements which have solely made it their business to track such people. Again due to lack of common sense and a sense of privacy, such kind of people falls prey to grave dangers. This unabated sharing of information for the sake of just sharing it and gathering the attention of the society of fellow human beings is proving to be hazardous for many of us.

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A bulk of the population is embroiled in different activities on various social media outlets, unaware of the perils of this path. We are creating and sharing the information which is of no use for the majority of people. The opinions or views about various issues and topics are most often senseless and lacking in proper research. We have forgotten to mind our own business and started meddling into others’. Companies are using us to gather information and insights into user behavior and patterns to help them sell their products more effectively. Targeted advertising is such a way to do that. We don’t care and our biggest drawback is that we don’t care to think about why or why not should we care. We are growing more selfish and less humane. Applauding a good deed on the internet won’t necessarily make you learn to be a good human yourself. But we are fine with living in false pretense.

Understanding the facts and evaluating the possibilities and outcomes of our actions is not very hard. We need to focus more on that. Facebook’s major data breach in recent years shows that only we need to be wiser while using these digital tools. More awareness is needed to handle the information at our behest and only we ourselves can fairly do that. We need to own up to our deeds.