Impact of social media, what they won't tell you!

By Rohit Joshi

Social media can be compared to a deafening silence. The libertine use of the oxymoron is aimed at understanding the positive as well as negative aspects of social media on youth. It is very strange that the same activities can have two very different outcomes on us. The two forces run in opposite directions leaving the user carefree and basically clueless. How? Let’s delve into the mechanism.

Are you consuming or are you getting consumed...

The word social cements the positivity that comes with online interactions. Even those who remain on the sidelines in the social sphere tend to come out and surprise us all. The most introverts of people are at times the most active members on Facebook and other social media platforms. Denied an opportunity in the real world, their thoughts explode on the virtual platform. Hence it would seem that social media is really helping the youth by providing them an outlet. But how good and effective is this outlet? After all, nobody is on house arrest and sooner or later we have to face the material world which is very different… at least for some of us. It is not so welcoming.

So you take your social media glory to the real world and find it difficult to fit in. The words you use, the manner in which you present yourself and the ideas you wish to project all step on a banana peel and you slip. Why? In my opinion, it is because the way in which we socialize on social media platforms is actually a veil. We are not really interacting. It might be business, it might be personal… but it is not the truest form of communication.

Our behavior goes through ups and downs and there are some of us who plan to live in the virtual world. They are comfortably numb in their own sphere. This sort of an approach is not feasible in the real world.

The real world demands an above average set of non-verbal communication skills. We do cement our real interests, real thoughts, real ideas and very much genuine observations on social media platforms but we fail to defend or justify the same in the real word. The wind of change finally blows the card castle we created on the internet and we feel targeted.

Social Media is evolving and the process will go on for a long time. There is so much we can juice out in terms of knowledge, exposure and information. But we must not forget that thin line of realism which separates the virtual world from the one where we have to actually survive.

It is hard to say whether social media is a boon or a bane. Mostly because of the approach that youngsters adopt. While most would opt to draw out constructive criticism from others on a social media platform, there are others who take it the wrong way and go deeper into a shell none can penetrate. Most would use social media while others might get consumed by it. As it is with everything new and trending, you can either go all out without thinking or you can draw a balance sheet of your personality and understand what kind of an impact is social media having on you.