Social media is an essential part of modern society, but have you ever stopped thinking about how this new concept called social media has influenced the way we interact with our interpersonal relationships in this day and age? First of all, social media refers to a large group of people’s means of digital communication to share the information e.g. WhatsApp, Instagram, Tinder, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. has made it.
Human relationships involve the ability to communicate in a variety of situations with others efficiently. Social networking may have a very detrimental effect on your interactions. From losing friends to cheating on your partner, and an addiction of online networking which is awful and exasperate individual lives also.
To start with, social media is just as addictive as using drugs. Among children as well as adults, this type of addiction is rampant. For example, we can see it restaurants where kids, parents, siblings, couples and friends order food together, but none of them look at each other or interact with each other. They are most probably all on their cell devices. A Harvard Study has already shown that one’s brain lights up through one’s social media networks just like drug usages will. It seems to have a brain dopamine impact. Therefore, individuals could perhaps spend a little more time involved with ones loved ones and friends in the real world. Reckon of every meaningful social media conversations and memories one is missing out.
Another point worth noting is social media posts are often fake. The lack of reality in social media can generate discontentment in one’s relationship or oneself, jealousy, anger, and other negative emotions. Firstly, let’s take a look, as for those people who post flawless pictures of their perfect bodies aiming, or just because, to advertise something? How do you think your partner would be influenced by all this? In reality, it could induce them to start comparing you with any of these “beautiful” individuals, better known as a false sense of beauty. Not all social media content is representative of reality.
Additionally, the fear of missing out (FOMO) is the psychological attitude that one might be missing out on a circumstance or social opportunity. This attitude needs them to remain continuously, Linked and educated with others about what their mates are doing (Beyens et al., 2016; ElhaiAnd et al., 2016). Emotional reduction is a side effect of overuse of a smartphone. Self-control, described by two processes: reduced cognitive reassessment (incapacity to do so) A new method of measuring the mental or emotional state) and increased emotional depression (Suppressing one’s feelings also leads to pressure and tension building up), all of which contribute to pressure and stress.
Similarly, it was found by Jenkins-Guarneri, Wright, and Hudiburgh (2012) that those with Increased levels of perceived skills in initiating offline relationships were correlated with increased Facebook Usage. In addition, heavy users of social media have diminished interpersonal Competency in initiating offline interactions means that the more social media an individual use, the harder it is for them to start new offline relationships. Supporting these effects, Sea, ePark, Kim, and Park, (2016) revealed that a person who was dependent on their cell experienced decreased attention and increased depression, which had a negative effect on their friends’ social relationships.
The allurement of social media is unquestionably fantastic. It could lead to either infidelity or immature relationships. The Human Behavior Journal of Computers did not dispute that information received from social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram, opened up possibilities of adultery that can lead to a divorce with a current partner. One of the researchers said, “Participants who have been married for more than three years, apparently, browse less, so it can be concluded that the social media have more risks to immature relationships,” It really is confessed that it is actually difficult to identify the core cause of a failed marriage: is it because of the social media or a weak marriage foundation.
When it comes to partnerships today, there is a lack of privacy, too. When a couple is having problems, it seems everyone knows because either of the individual’s tweets something about the other. This invites others to be part of their private experiences. I think this can cause the relationship to be difficult and it can generate a certain strain from outside factors. So, if people manage their private relationships properly, privately, a lot of outside outlets will never influence how you handle your circumstances.
Social networking not only affects our relationships with others but also affects our relationships with ourselves and how we view the world around us. From Kerkhof et al (2011) Compulsive Internet users were found to be lonelier, more depressed, and typically demonstrated poorer social skills than non-compulsive users of the Internet suggest that these negative skills are their overuse of the Internet brought in features. According to experts the more problematic mobile phone addiction becomes, the more people will experience decreased self-esteem and emotional well-being.
Social media is not without its drawbacks. If social media is so powerful now, what does the future hold? We millennial generation are this nation’s future and if we can’t put down our phones for a second to have a normal conversation, then who knows what’s going to happen to human interaction in real.
