BY SENAIT GEBREHIWOT
Social media like Facebook and instagram may be good at connecting people and might be beneficial if relevant information is shared but that is not the case.
Many of the youngsters including myself follow and see the profiles of celebrities, models and other famous people all the time.
We see how glamorous their life is, the expensive cars and house they own, how many followers they have and how beautiful they are.
When normal people who have normal life see this they start to get insecure about their lives and start to think they are missing something.
The constant alert and notifications of social media reminding us of how our life can be a lot better, leads to dissatisfaction and ultimate depression.
It is a fact that the major cause for depression nowadays is social media.
It creates a comparison between people and makes them ungrateful of their lives.
It makes being famous the most important thing to success.
Social media sends a cryptic message these ideas: I am not beautiful just the
way I am: by showing polished models and celebrities.
I need to be perfect/ my imperfection is bad: by showing perfect seeming individuals all the time.
I can’t do anything I put my mind to: by creating comparisons with the most successful people.
How much people accept me defines me:
by making acceptance by people we don’t know seem like the most important thing. Our addiction of using social media gives us these unpleasant results so we have to limit our use and be strategic in using social media.
Consumption of all the information they offer us only leads to confusion, dissatisfaction and depression.
The Ethiopian Herald March 17/2023
