Today, social media continues to grow as a habit, and new platforms continue to appear and develop. The need to post, to constantly check your phone and stalking other people is so common today.
This would be a great question to millennial. Do you make sense with everything you do, especially with your virtual presence? Social media is a great way to connect with the world, anywhere anytime. But it’s not an excuse to forget who we are, our manners, our roles, our culture and most importantly our values.
Social media reveals how much our character is, young people would pretend to be something else than who they truly are on social media. Also they will share things to make people laugh, things to make people like them, things to make people follow them but they are not doing so for them. They are forgetting themselves in the process, they are not growing, they are not improving they are only loosing themselves on social media until they forget who they truly are. They are more concerned with other people seeing the moment than themselves enjoying it to the fullest. This is why you’ll see picture when they go to lunch, dinner, the shoes they bought, the new hairstyle, their nails, their next trip abroad, their money, cars which only tells about their mental health. On the extreme side social media abuse and overuse can lead to amplifying and worsening Narcissistic Personality Disorder, lead to lack of intimacy and anxiety disorders.
Did you know? The American Psychiatric Association has listed the classification narcissistic personality disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) since 1968.Cure yourself of the affliction of caring how you appear to others .
We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don’t care for.
Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach
What can we do then?
Have a goal set a goal when going online; why do you want to join social media? Your motivation will determine the type of content and activities you do online. If its business, stick to business, if it’s personal what do you want to achieve? Some people got their jobs because of their social profile, use social media to express your own views, ideas etc. That’s why it is your profile not a public gazette. If you don’t have a goal your profile will be a junk of comics, lies, and everything. Let your profile speak about you.
Be authentic; What are you posting in social media, yes it make sense to you, but is it something relevant for other people? Remember it is “social” media, it is about building real and lasting relationships. Share who you are (it’s exhausting being someone else) and expect to be followed by people of your nature. Yes, birds of the same feathers flock together. It’s not about how many followers you have, it’s about how beneficial is the network you have. Never confuse quality with quantity.
Make a calendar, daily activities, limit time; I had to learn this, I hate being interrupted. Many times I would limit notifications on my phone to be able to think, and perform other offline tasks. Never assume that someone is always online, it is offensive when you expect someone to text you back immediately. Remember you haven’t scheduled any meeting with that person. Even though the social apps design allows you to know when one is online, but hey, they are busy doing something else, respect their time.
Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War
Najma Juma 
Leave a comment