THE ANTI SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW TO AVOID IT.

THE “ANTI” SOCIAL MEDIA and five ways to AVOID it

One of the greatest joys of living in the 21^st century is the internet. With the advancement of the internet, life has become easier, better and faster.

The internet has provided numerous platforms for actualization of dreams of billions of people across the globe. The information flow had never been this fast and smooth. The internet introduced also fast means of communication through the social media, allowing people thousand kilometers apart to keep in touch within seconds. In fact the internet has made over night billionaires and created trillion dollar businesses.

However, with its amazing benefits, the internet especially the social media has introduced a whole lot of unthinkable evils. One core disadvantage of the social media is the shrinking of the visible society. The virtual society or the social media has created a gully gap in the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the world. People hardly have real life conversations with others, this has led to an increase of isolation related psychological diseases like depression, insomnia, mood swings and many others.

The society has now become porous, and people now has little or no privacy, there are thousands of hackers, snooping around people virtual lives to obtain delicate information, furthermore, the virtual society kills creativity especially for people who are prone to beautiful distractions.

 Every time you spend on a social media, you are probably losing one minute of creative productivity except it is used for promoting your creative ideas. The truth is that the social media has caused more social decadence than any invention in history.

According to the bestselling author J.T. Ellison, your social media habit can be doing more harm than good if you don’t use it well. How Social Networking Kills The Creative Spirit

http://jtellison.com/how-social-networking-kills-th/

For more negative effects of the social media, you can ask Google, it will do that better than me. Now let us find ways to avoid these social media evils.

1)      HAVE A TIME AWAY FROM YOUR PHONE:

This is very crucial, especially for those who deal with people. Nothing is as annoying and time consuming as phone interruptions in critical situations. Take time every day to be away from phone. This will help you concentrate on  the task at hand, and put your best in it. It will also give you time to think well. Self-discipline is vital in this resist the temptation to pick up your phone during this time. You will be very surprised at how productive you can be if you silence your phone for thirty minutes a day.

2)      JOIN REAL LIFE GROUPS.

Join real life groups around you. This can be a sport club, a volunteer group, your trade union or your religious group. This will help you have basic human connections, increase your communication with people outside the online forums. It will also give you a support group that stands by you always. The truth is, being in a group is always motivating, improves your relationship with others, makes you accountable to others, increases your efficiency and brings about shared ideas. There are groups around you, identify one that adds value to you and join.  

3)      HAVE A HOBBY OUTSIDE YOUR PHONE.

Most people have virtual hobbies that keeps them hooked on the screen for hours. Unfortunately, these virtual hobbies drain their creativity, increases isolation and causes delusions. Having a real life hobby keeps you in touch with your environment. It also helps you recharge yourself, increases your health, and ultimately prolong your life. Virtual hobbies has left people to be poorly developed in vital areas of life. Many are professionals in the virtual hobbies but armatures in the real life game.

4)      TALK MORE TO PEOPLE WITHOUT MEDIA:

Although, the social media has facilitated an increase in communications and information flow, it should not replace one on one discussions with others. When you talk more to real people, you can gauge their emotions, see their reactions and expressions, understand them better and increase your inter relationship skills. Talking to people outside the social media increases trust, builds confidence, especially for those who are public figures. One sure way to network effectively, is through real life conversations.

5)      BUILD NON MEDIA RELATIONSHIPS.

Whether career relationships, romantic relationships or religious relationship, having one outside your virtual society is very important. Have contacts you communicate with without your screen. These people know you away from your Facebook profile. They know the sound of your laughter, they know the smell of your fragrance, and they know your real behavior and values. These people are trust worthy and can vouch for you any time anywhere.  They are your core group.

Finally, the benefits of the social media are overwhelming, but its contribution to societal decadence should not be overlooked. Life had been without it, and life will also continue without it. To have an all-round growth it is important to have a life outside the media. This will increase your efficiency, and improve your life in a whole new way. Don’t allow your life to revolve around screens.

Thanks.