SOCIAL MEDIA

Lesson Point 1: Social Media – the good and the bad

· Social media is a phrase that we throw around a lot these days, often to describe what we post on sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others.

· The 'social' part: refers to interacting with other people by sharing information with them and receiving information from them.

· The 'media' part: refers to an instrument of communication, like the internet (while TV, radio, and newspapers are examples of more traditional forms of media). Social media are web-based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by sharing and consuming information.

· FOUR Cs to social media

o GOOD parts

Connecting – when we use social media for connecting, we are growing our network of real people and helping to be more social. We are using social media as a tool to be more interactive with people.

Communication – When we communicate (by direct messaging or emailing people) to invite them to events or ask them questions, we are interacting in a positive way and using our devices with a purpose.

o BAD parts

Comparing – When we compare ourselves to others (the way they look, where they go on vacation or their popularity on social media) we are comparing ourselves to them. This causes anxiety and depression.

Consuming – When we have a spare moment in line at the bank, or we are bored in the passenger seat in the car, we might open our phone to check our Instagram feed. This is us filling the spaces by consuming other people’s social media with the endless feed on Instagram/Snap Chat/Facebook, etc. Consumption robs us of great ideas, interactions and makes us less focused.

Lesson Point 2: Traps of Social Media

· Trap #1: Coveting & Comparison Trap – Coveting/desiring to have other people’s social media platforms, their influence & success, the number of likes, shares, comments their posts get, etc. You begin to look for validation or self-worth from the response of others to what you post. When we view ourselves through the perception of other people it can be called second-hand living. While comparing your life to others’ lives based on what they post on social media, what you are doing is comparing your real life to their reel life. You only see the good moments or highlights of the other person’s life and you don’t get to see what their actual life is really like. So, you get an impression that their lives are perfect because people usually only post their “highlights” and not their “lowlights”. Fake brittle popularity can leave you more vacant than before. Social media has also been found to be the cause of an increase in mental health issues in teenagers.

· Trap #2: Venting Trap – Using social media to vent is not a good method in dealing with feelings. Just think about it – most of the “friends” you have on any social media platform are people you aren’t really that close to. And majority of the times they don’t genuinely care about how you feel and would not be able to offer you the comfort that a real face-to-face conversation gives. So you should avoid venting on social media. If you have a problem, you should consider sharing it with someone else who genuinely cares about you.

· Trap #3: Time Trap – Social media takes up a lot of our time. We tend to waste a lot of time – hours in fact – scrolling through feeds, watching videos, posting photos, etc. It is said that a teen spends around 7 hours and 22 minutes a day in front of digital screens. (source: www.commonsensemedia.org). So, constantly work on reducing the time that you spend on social media.

· Trap #4: Addiction Trap - It was found that social media has the same effects on the brain that a drug like cocaine would have on the brain. Each time you get a ‘Like’ on your post or someone sends you a message the brain gives short bursts of dopamine (the happiness hormone). But this is an unnatural way for the brain and body to be receiving dopamine and it causes the brain to be altered so that you would constantly feel the need for it. This is how an addiction works.

· Trap #5: Distraction Trap – Social media companies hire attention engineers to make their platforms addictive. And using social media in an addictive fashion maximizes the profit that can be extracted from your attention and your personal data. The frequent notifications create a constant urge to keep checking social media regularly and you keep going back to it every now and then. You may think you’re good at multi-tasking but if you spend large portions of your day fragmenting/breaking up your attention checking on social media platforms, then it can permanently reduce your capacity for concentration. It also distracts you from building meaningful relationships with friends and family. For example, if you go outside with your family odds are that most of the time you would be checking your social media accounts, clicking pictures to post on social media and not actually spending time talking with each other. And it could send a message to them that you value social media over them.

Lesson 3: Handling the Social world

• Time management - Social media kills a lot of our precious time that can be used for a variety of good and useful things. This is an important area to get a handle. Somethings you can do are:

• Turning off notifications on apps so that you don’t have the urge to constantly keep checking your phone.

• Set specific time in the day to check social media.

• Sign out of social media platforms and only sign in during that time you set to check it. And sign out again once you’re done.

• If you feel that you are not able to stop yourself from checking a particular social media platform, then just uninstall it!

• Staying Safe - The internet has become a place for many predators. Even the social media companies themselves cannot be trusted as they are known to sell personal data to third parties. Some things you can do to keep yourself safe online:

• Don’t add people you don’t personally know, other than on social media, to your friends/followers.

• Don’t make your personal information and photos public and always set the privacy to “Friends”. It is best not to put up any personal information on social media platforms. Also try to avoid sending your photos to anyone, including friends.

• Turn off the option to personalize your Ads on all social media platforms.

• Don’t share your location or travel plans on social media.

• Don’t respond to messages from strangers. They may seem nice but you never know their real intentions.

• Be cautious about what information you post online or share with someone. Compare it with what you would do if the same information was asked from you in a real-life, offline scenario and if it is something you wouldn’t be comfortable doing then it shouldn’t be something you do online either.

Lesson 4: Using Social media well!

• Money is amoral - meaning it is neither good nor bad and it depends on how you use it. The same goes for social media which inherently isn’t good or bad but it can be either depending on how you use it.

• Be nice. People can be downright nasty on social media as they get to hide behind a screen and not be held accountable for what they say.

• Be an encourager. Let things you post build others up and benefit them. Congratulate people on their accomplishments. Also remember to be genuine in your compliments.

• Check before you share. People are quick to share anything and everything that they see without even ensuring if there is a grain of truth in it. And often this has resulted in bad things happening – people panic and react too soon. It has even resulted in people getting killed(lynched) on account of some fake news spread about them. So, it is wise avoid posting things which may cause people to panic and in case you do post something always check the credibility of what you post. If you are unable to find out about the credibility of the post then just don’t share it – better safe than sorry!

• Be purposeful while using social media. Harness it for good.