I’m sure most of you have heard this statement many times from numerous people.
“Get off your phone.”
“Who can you possibly be talking to.”
“You’re on social media all the time.”
Yes, I know those above statements probably sound like your mom or dad saying them or great grandmother. But, seriously have you ever really thought of how much we our on our phones everyday. Just today as I’m writing this I find myself checking my phone for no apparent reason. Instances like this show me how addicted I am to my phone. Think about it, in today’s society it’s almost seen as weird to not have your phone on you at all times. I know I do, for most of the day at least. Now, don’t get me wrong I think technology is great, and there are so many beneficial reasons to use it everyday. It benefits business, individuals, everyone around the world. It’s such an amazing thing, and we’ve come a long way in the last 20-25 years with technology.
I’ve had this argument many times with my peers surrounding the subject of technology addiction. I personally, think someone can be addicted to their phone and technology. But, I think it comes from the habit of constantly checking our phones and sometimes we don’t know how to break it. Take for instance, social media. Have you ever thought about how many times you check social media a day, and then totally forget what you were working on and lose complete concentration? I know pretty much the majority of you are nodding your head “yes” right now. Or you go check your phone for no apparent reason just to see if you received a notification. Social media is a fantastic tool for developing your online brand, business, etc. It’s extremely effective and it works, we all know that. I think we need to start looking at how exactly we’re using social media, and setting intentions. Let’s talk about the good.
GOOD
I use Instagram pretty frequently around growing my online presence with my blog. But, what’s worked for me is setting intentions when I open the app. Asking myself, “What do I want to accomplish this time when I open the app?” Is it to make a post, respond to a comment, message someone, search for someone, etc. I found myself getting more done on the app when I set intentions. All of us are victims of endlessly scrolling through our feeds and realize how much time we just wasted. Even for people that aren’t establishing their brand online or are business owners, how much time are you really spending on social media? Back to my point, I don’t think social media is a bad thing, I think it’s a fantastic thing. But, we need to have the discipline to know when to get off once we accomplished what we needed to do. The whole purpose of social media is to connect people. That’s why it started, and I think we need to focus more on the connection part of it when we use it.
BAD
There’s good and bad in everything. Yes, social media does have some bad to it. For example, people constantly comparing themselves to what others are doing. The amazing trips they’re taking, the things they buy, the people they hang out with, etc. I know I’ve compared myself to others, we all have. It’s a natural human thing to do. But, at the end of the day you shouldn’t care what others are doing. You should only be focusing on what you’re doing with your life. Most people on social media only post the good things that are happening or happened in their life. This goes for business owners as well, most of them don’t talk about their failures or short comings. I applaud the people and businesses that do, and I encourage you to share more of that. I think as a society, we need to be sharing more about our failures with each other on social media so we can help others grow in becoming what they want to become.
UGLY
Oh boy, could talk about the ugly things on social media for days. We live in such an age now of cyber bullying now and I hate to see young kids getting bullied online through social media. And even some have taken their life because of it. Saddens me to type that, but this is stuff people don’t talk about, and is true. A lot of people can hide behind a phone and are willing to say whatever they want. It amazes me how disrespectful I see adults being to each other on social media these days, like c’mon really?!!! People are going to do what they want and post what they want, and you can’t control it. But, what you can control is how you react to certain situations on social media, and how you choose what is going to affect you.
To sum it all up, social media is a great thing. But, it was meant for connection. I can’t tell you how many friendships I’ve made from just direct messaging someone on Instagram. We live in such a world now, where it’s so easy to get in contact with someone. Just send them a message! I hope our society focuses more on the connection part of social media moving forward and learns how to properly communicate with others on different platforms.