I have been using social media since I was sixteen years old back in 2008. Back then Facebook was evolving into the biggest social networking website known to everyone today. That was the first website that I used first, mainly because of family and then friends used it as well. In the beginning, I was playing about online, writing whatever I wanted to and posting any random selfie and status updates without a care in the world. I was tagged in some horrible, unthinkable pictures that are still online and when I remember them, I feel ashamed. This is how crazy the Internet was back then and unfortunately it is the same today.
There are countless websites out there where you can socialise and in my opinion, that is scary to think about. In a good way, they are good to use in the correct ways but nowadays with articles about fake news, online dating went bad and scams, it makes sense to say how frightening social media can be.
So far, it has been ten years since I made my Facebook account and have a few other social media accounts such as Instagram and YouTube, I had a reality check one day. I realised how much time I was spending online, posting about my personal life to the whole wide world. To be fair, I have seen other people do worse online than me but I am not a judgemental person. It is not my place to say what another person can do. It is their individual right to do what they can online.
I thought long and hard about the need to use social media, for example, career opportunities, which is why I use LinkedIn and that is one website that will stay with me in future years.
Also, I decided to cut down the use of Facebook and Instagram every two days in a week. Sometimes, it will be five days without logging on but on the bright side, I felt good. I felt a heavy weight lifted off my shoulders because I did not have to think about updates about my life or posting selfies to show how great my life is.
I deleted Snapchat on my phone for the above reasons, although I still have the account in case I changed my mind. After doing that, I felt free to focus on more important tasks and improvement of my wellbeing.
Furthermore, the importance of limiting social media in life is that you are not feeling anxious about what other people are doing in their own lives. Understanding how technology is taking over the world, it is great to stay aware of the online world but I feel that there should be a limit.
A big limit.
Social media can be one big lie. I feel like it is one big show. If social networking sites are used in positive ways then there would not be so many problems.
Overall, it has given me a sense of hope that amazing things will happen as a result of social media in many days to come instead of focusing on the negatives which always get in the way of our lives.