Social media has become a very important aspect in our lives and it is nearly impossible to be off it. It’s part of society now, regardless of generation; from our grand-parents to toddlers as young as 3 years owning Instagram accounts. It’s one big family, even cats & dogs have social media accounts too.

It’s a common thing today that companies now need to have a look at your social media pages before they call you in for an interview for a job you applied, relationships have been birthed on social media, people have started careers and earned a meaningful leaving off social media, politicians have won elections thanks to social media, businesses have flourished because of it and a lot of other things that are happening because of facebook or twitter.

At the genesis of it all, Social media preached the gospel of ‘connecting, sharing and easy spread of information’. However, fast forward, things have taken a whole different twist and social media is in shambles — Social media is making us anti-social.

We would rather text each other than have face to face conversations, we would rather post our problems on facebook for the world to see rather than confide in someone or seek help from a professional counsellor. Social Media has taken the natural bond that we should be sharing and it has taken an important bit from us — remorse. While someone might genuinely have a problem and seek help on Facebook, chances are they’ll be mate with a mean response and this may leave a severe impact on them.

As much as social media is the talk of the big talk of the 21st century and everyone seems to be impressed just how it has become powerful throughout the last decade, there is a side we all seem to be ignored, the ugly side. The anti-social behavior that has been birthed by social media is a clear indicator of an underlying disease that has made our feelings become excessive, all-consuming and interfere with our daily living.

While we thought we would be connecting on social media, we are now disconnected from the real world and the people closest to us, we are not genuinely sharing for the sake of it but for likes, retweets, to be better and it’s turned out to be a competition of who gets the most attention. The platforms that were meant to inform us are now being used to misinform us and orchestrate fake news and because we are gullible, we are victims.

The social media sites we love, that we have welcomed whole-heartedly to be at the centre of our lives, our relationships, and our work lives are slowly eating us up and we can’t seem to notice it. The negativity that is brewed on these social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter each second only breeds contempt, leaves us unhappy and has messed with our mental health

Today, we seem more interested in the lives we live online more than our actual lives and those around us. Social Media influencers have left majority deluded to believe that there is a proverbial world of luxury without actually getting your hands dirty and we are wasting so much time on social media than doing actual work.

On countless occasions, I have witnessed a couple completely disconnected from their date because they are not sure whether they want to enjoy their dinner or be on their phones. This has also left a dent in a number of relationships & has caused many of them to come to an end.

Research has also found that social media has immense side-effects that have continuously impacted on some user’s mental health and this has led user’s to become sadder and more anxious.

And let’s not expect that the big companies in the silicon valley that are churning out these social media platforms that we are getting addicted to giving a hoot about your mental health or just how anti-social you are becoming, No they don’t! (or maybe some do). They want numbers, they want your data to be able to mint millions of money from advertisers and that is just about it.

Whereas social media is a bonafide means of making money to most people & a source of entertainment to others, it has handed others troves of depressions and untold suffering. It has created a league of introverts and has brewed anti-social behaviours that harm or bring about a lack of consideration for the well-being of others.

We’ve got some serious life rebuilding to do if we must reclaim our lives back. To be able to live a meaningful and happy life like the ones we portray on Instagram and Snapchat, we have to bring back the social in social media to reality, to restore the core values that social media stands for and break the addiction that these apps have caused. Talk to someone, go out and live the real-life, go out on dates without bothering about the notifications on your phone — Be Social!