I miss Social Media (not)
By: Nandni Majithiya, Nama
Tags: Instagram, Opinion, Mental Health, Resolutions, Social Media

“I miss social media.”, said every person on a social media detox.

It’s that time of the year, when new year resolutions are being made and promises to be a better self are being planned upon. One of the most popular new year resolutions is to Stay away from social media a.k.a. Social media detox.

Social Media, a medium for us to express has now turned into a medium to just impress what we express. Amazing, ain’t it?

In 21st century, when technology has proved its worth every now and then and changed our lives, it has taken us 4 steps ahead and if not lying, even 3 steps back. Technology like social media entered into our lives to solve problems like not getting a platform to express, speak thoughts, raise voices, reaching out to people, having a laugh, take some time off mundane routines and relax for a few minutes to catch up with the world.

Technology entered our lives to make it advanced, make it better, comfortable, easy, and enjoyable. But did it? Well, yes but no. The sound of yes over here is like drizzling rain, pleasant and soothing, but the sound of no is like that of a calm before the storm that drizzle brings along with it.

When technologies like the internet and social media made their breakthrough in this not so perfect societies of ours, it had a mission and a vision to connect people easily and give an opportunity to everyone to express themselves. Social media has now become something quite different. Apparently, 10% of the using population needs to even take a detox from this so-called addiction of theirs.

This is where social media and its irresponsible use has brought us. Today we’re standing at a crossroads wherein social media is powerful yet makes its master weak too. Social media, on one hand, gives information about what is latest in the world and on the other hand, makes you miss out on your own tiny world, on one hand, social media demotes the idea of negativity and toxicity and on the other hand, it promotes the idea of a inappropriate and incorrect understanding of the same.

Today social media is all-encompassing of opinions and opinions on opinions. There is a cycle of opinions and a chain of thoughts running. No one knows if each opinion, each news, each word being read or uploaded is actually a fact or not, if it actually has credibility or not, if it is for real or not. Nobody cares about it anymore. Instead of expressing self, it has now become a place to impress and only impress by being a part of the herd, being a part of the discussion, and having an opinion on everything and every incident, no matter how invalid or how baseless the opinions might be.

Thus, the very social media which was meant for relaxation , has now become an addiction, and addiction that is harmful,an addiction to impress by express and make a space for yourself. With the infinite features and never-ending content in these infinity band-wagons, social media is no more just a happy place, but a place with a side darker than what no one imagined. And that is when the so-called Social Media detox steps in.

It gets difficult for people to be a part of herd at one time or the other, it becomes difficult to keep up with every new thing stepping in, it becomes tiresome to be able to always express to impress. Being bound in a world of likes, comments, views and engagements, people lose the real essence of having an opinion and having a means of expression. But when we really think about it, it isn’t absence of expression, but exhaustion. Exhaustion from constantly keeping up, constantly comparing and fear of being constantly watched and judged.

So, instead of trying to make peace with their own opinions, their own thoughts and their own reality, people choose to believe that social media is time consuming and thus exhausting. So, enters our hero, the Social Media Detox, and this is where people take some time off the app and pull off the constant judgement by avoiding it. But it is an addiction and thus people are attracted back to the bandwagon and thus are left wondering, where did it all go wrong and deal with the additional guilt of not being able to stay of the addiction of constant approval from people.

People are blind-sighted by the concern that they’re wasting their time on social media and consuming new content every day and thus revert to frequent social media breaks and sometimes even go to an extent to temporarily delete apps or even deactivate social media accounts. Little do they realize that it isn’t the time, recurring content, or the app they’re taking a detox from, but it is the opinions and the opinions on those opinions that they’re steering away from.

Social media is an amazing place upon being explored positively. It is supposed to be a part of life and not the life itself. One can learn about various lifestyles from it, but doesn't need to own every lavish lifestyle shown on the front end, one can learn about the updates of the world , but one doesn’t need to always have a say in the same, one needs to express and enjoy the blessing of social media, rather than missing it.