“I’ve been experiencing youths declare that social media platforms make their lives enjoyable, efficient and easier and has also become their lifestyle“
As many youths do, am also interested to digital world, and I observe a good virtual life up there! But is it really good on the other hand? What happens when I get back to the normal world with family, friends and community? Am I real and confident?
My name is Genila Hiel, a 20 year old girl from Tanzania. I got opportunity to attend school and I make it at my best. Am grateful for my parents, that, they tried to show me the world, and what’s popping out there, somehow, they did.
I started using a phone to communicate with friends, and family when I was 13 years old, I was form 2 at that moment. I felt loved and it showed me that I was grown up, I felt trusted and confident. Good or bad, the phone did not have access to internet and social medias,” it was just a normal calls and text thing, but I was happy!”
Times passed by and when I was form 5, I luckily got a phone which had access to internet and to social medias, life started to be good, so good to me, I felt fine and good to expose myself, posting pictures and showing the world how my days went and the feelings I had, I really felt fine, till I started noticing the negative comments down on my pictures and notes, I started feeling the really digital space through internet and social medias, and badly on my post and other friends posts, cyberbullying here and there, and it becomes normalized as a normal thing as days goes!!
I also thought that I was so late to make a best life. Observing the achievements made by my agemates or gender mates, it suffocated me. And sometimes, comparing myself to unrealistic images on social media of what i believed i should look like.
Before it came hectic and critical to me, I learnt to be positive and provide self-appreciation, and I earlier figured out how can I make myself on this awesome digital world, for me, it was important to be there, I was inspired and learn a lot from different people, but the negatives and insecurities were really rising, how can I make myself into good side inside the negativity and breaking good morals way?
I learnt how I can choose the audience and also people I engage with, I learnt to limit my time on social media, and it was actually a matter of deciding how long I stay on social media, and for which activity? The addiction to digital world, drove me to blogging issue ( nillaplus.com ), and I found the blog of which I share different stories regarding people I meet and daily life experience, engaging myself to different community based initiatives to raise awareness concerning different issues, after sometime, the addiction became advantageous first to my mental health and second to the development of my carrier.
I can not avoid digital world in this time of development of science and technology, but I deeply choose what is the best for me generally, and specific to my mental health and development of my carrier.