Social media has become part and parcel of modern society that ensures we stay connected with family and friends. There are many social media platforms and they all compete to make sure that you get the best features. These social media platforms help you to make new friends and foster many relationships. But have you ever wondered how exactly social media affects the relationships we have? Nowadays when you enter a room with people most likely they won’t be talking to each other or having face-to-face conversations, most of them will be staring at their screens as they converse with people who aren’t in the room.
Social media has influenced your life both in a positive and negative way, and in this post, we will explore these two sides.
Positive side
Foster empathy
Most of us spend a lot of time on social media platforms talking about our lives, the good and bad with other people whom you think might care about what you’re going through. They will listen and offer their advice to help you deal with your problems, but others might not be your friends. However, through sharing your experiences with others you’re able to empathize with others and you’re in a better position of helping a friend going through the same problems. You can help them through their difficult moments and make sure they come out of it okay.
Enhances connectivity
Social media makes it easy to connect with like-minded people from all over the world with just a click of a button regardless of their religion, distance, or affiliations. It’s now easy to connect with your customers, business owners, family, and friends. Companies also use social media to directly approach potential candidates for job positions through social media platforms like LinkedIn.
Used to save lives
Over the past few years, the number of deaths by suicide has drastically risen and spreading awareness about it is helping people by giving them a reassurance that they aren’t alone or they’re not the only ones facing certain problems. Different websites are using social media platforms to offer support where they allow people to share their experiences and motivate others without compromising their identity. This way many lives get to be saved.
Easier to make friends
Making it easier for you to make friends is a big positive for social media. Before the internet and social media, it was very difficult to make new friends unless you were the outgoing type and good at making conversation. Then fast forward to now and everyone owns a phone and you have many social media platforms at your disposal which has changed the whole concept of friendship. You can now make hundreds of friends on various social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many other sites. By sharing your memorable snapshots and videos on Instagram, you can use ig likes free to boost the likes on your post helping you connect and makes friends with people who like your videos. Although you might never meet in real life they’re your friends regardless.
Makes the world seem smaller
Social media doesn’t only give you access to connect with your close family members and friends, you’re also able to communicate with the world. So instead of seeing the world as this huge place, you live in it becomes smaller in that you can be kept updated on a family member living abroad just like you would your next door neighbor. You can also keep in touch with high school friends regardless of their location.
Easier to find common ground
When you open an account with Facebook, you list your interests and hobbies which makes it easier to find common ground with other users who share the same interests as you do. On Twitter, you follow people who have something to say on topics you’re interested in making it easier to connect with like-minded people. Sharing this information might mean that you give up a certain amount of your privacy which you might not like, but you can share your likes, dislikes, and interests.
Speedy communication
With all the commitments you have between work and family you barely have time left to communicate properly. Social media platforms offer a speedy and effective way of communicating in the shortest time possible to all the people you want at once. Using social media slang you can write a post in a few seconds and post it to other social platforms to reach everyone you want.
Negative side
Nothing remains private
As a couple nowadays it’s becoming very hard to keep your lives private because one or both of you will tweet about the goings on in your relationship. When you’re having issues one of you ill tweet about it and that will start a conversation where everyone has an opinion. This ends up complicating your relationship and putting undue pressure on both of you.
Increase unfaithfulness
Unfaithfulness is both the physical cheating with someone to flirting through text. Having inappropriate conversations with other people on various social media platforms and your partner finds out is considered to be cheating. With social media, it’s very easy to be emotionally unfaithful to your partner without them finding out. You emotionally connect with someone else on social media without having to be physically with them.
Affect your mental health
Majority of the young people have strong social media presence in most media sites might have psychological disorders like anti-social behaviours. This can cause you to be a loner who doesn’t want to interact with other people and it can also cause conflict at home. Keeping things to yourself can cause misunderstandings with your parents putting a strain on your relationship.
Final thoughts
Social media influences every part of your life even your relationships in positive and negative ways. If used in moderation with checks and balances, it can be helpful to you. The way you communicate with other people through what you share and post online can improve or destroy your relationships, so use it wisely.