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SOCIAL MEDIA, THE NEW ‘HIGH’

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 6/16/2021 11:35:41 AM

Apps like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat have flourished since their inception. It is remarkable how these companies have managed to promote simple apps with relatively elementary and modest codes yet engaging a massive audience to stick with these apps for unusually long intervals of time without even realising about it. It has turned the owners and CEOs of such companies into billionaires mainly because of the high revenues generated through ads targeted at the massive audience. Most probably, you and I are a part of the same audience we’re talking of. Continuously staring down at our smartphone and computer screens for the entire day, without any relevant social interactions in our real life, we prefer interacting on social media itself, degrading our social skills slowly and gradually. Is it wrong to say that social media is the latest addiction available in the market? Here’s a fun fact, it isn’t even a prohibited offence like any other form of addiction. Regular consumption of content on social media is as addictive as consuming real, physical forms of addiction if not worse. It affects our brain the same way as actual drugs do. A pinch of dopamine is released in our mind every time we consume either of the mentioned above. This dopamine release compels our brain to perform the activity again to get that dopamine dose. Gradually our body and mind get used to it and starts enjoying it. Long term effects of such consumption may lead to other health complications as well, strained or blurred vision, regular headaches, anxiety, mild depression are a few examples. Such problems are common in today’s teenagers, non-stop social media consumption besides the usual competitive environment is an aspect causing it. Everyone attempts to showcase him or her in the best way possible on social media, almost trying to be perfect or at least chasing the fantasy to be perfect. However, this is not how real life works, embracing and accepting one’s flaws is equally essential to improve as an individual and lead a mentally healthy life. It is one aspect which the teens miss while chasing the perfect life on social media. We need to summon our inner thoughts are think within ourselves, does the number of likes, comments or shares genuinely matter? Do we need to flaunt every single achievement or flashy things we own to the world barely to feel better of ourselves? It is a dilemma enrooted in our minds which does only harm rather than any good.