Tamour Ali Baig
Have we ever thought about why there are so many psychological and mental problems in the 21st century as compared to past eras? Why modern people are so depressed, anxious and nervous in their lives? It is seen that our ancestors- though lived a life with very less resources- were quite satisfied and contented. Then what happens to our generation? There may be many factors for that, but without an iota of doubt, media has fostered many problems in human beings. Digitalization has created a world of illusions, and human beings love to live in that virtual world. As a result, they have to face severe repercussions for this belief. It is imperative to say that social media has a lot of advantages. It is used for communication and interaction with our friends, relatives and family members, living in any part of the globe. It is a platform that educates on all subjects and topics. Apart from that, netizens use this platform for online shopping, e-commerce, blogging, marketing, vlogging, and many other purposes. Even institutions like WHO use this platform, for instance, Twitter, for governance purposes, and updated information about coronavirus for the people. In short, there are multifarious benefits of social media.There are many negative fallouts of using social media as well. First of all, it is necessary to understand that social media does not portray the real image of life. Research has been conducted at Harvard University tells that those people who are more active on social media are usually less socially active in their personal lives. A misleading platform where people are judged on a number of followers, liked posts, more comments and infinite friend lists. Users of social media engaged themselves to depict a better image of their profiles to influence the viewers.Specifically, one has to understand that media just tells one side of a coin. Everyone posts his achievements, successes, good works and victories. Nobody likes to show his failures, weaknesses, hardships and miseries. The reason is to realize to the world that he or she is so happy and successful in his or her life. It is the real problem that people like to please others and forget that contentment and happiness come from inside of the body, not from the external environment. And by chance, if someone shows others his bad picture, he is badly trolled and received hatred. Such a person is labeled as a deviant one. As far as sociological study is concerned, there are two parts of human beings as presented by looking glass theory: me and I. “I” is the inner self of a person which consists of basic personality traits. Whereas, “me” is that personality a person assumes on the basis of people’s perception of him. Social media galvanizes “me” type perception among the users. It enhances the external control on the user by engendering comments, opinions, and trolling. This outside opinion can be encouraging or discouraging. In both ways, due to excessive unconscious social control, people get into depression, anxiety, and psychological disorders. Celebrities usually face this trauma in their life. The pinnacle form of this tragedy resulted in suicides.Going forward, online platforms have strengthened the feeling of deception. Those who are more prone to social media giants such as YouTube and Facebook are less able to connect through face-to-face interaction. Moreover, mostly virtual friends are fair-weather friends who do not have any stake in the real life. People have thousands of followers on their social web pages, but not a single friend or follower from that pages comes ahead in the acid test situation. The death of Amir Liaquat is a learning lesson for all. In spite of helping him in tough times, people troll him just for making fun. The social media platform has become an open field for immoral speech, indecent comments, hate content, and fake news. Furthermore, social media platforms have exacerbated the lust for becoming rich and getting famous through short-cuts. By seeing celebrities and rich people’s profiles, a common user tries to follow their styles, dress codes, and living standards. To achieve that, a common person’s budget and earnings could not afford them. Such behavior creates a feeling of alienation among common individuals. And when the desires and wishes are not fulfilled, users receive setbacks and get anxiety. All aforementioned factors happen unconsciously, and a person does not have any idea about them. Interestingly, the modern world is globalized, and no one can ignore the significance of social media. It is a tool that has the potential to completely change the socio-economic conditions of people. Social media has bolstered awareness among its users. Nonetheless, it has certain side effects which must be identified. Digital literacy needs to be spread among netizens. If a person knows both pros and cons of anything, he would effectively use it, and there would be more productivity. The rising challenges of nervousness, depression and anxiety need to be addressed through education and reformation.
