World Wide Worry

By Ami Mehta

We are living in an era where our world revolves around social media. From education to entertainment, from banking to business, from food to shopping we are completely and utterly consumed by it. It not only contributes in our personal life but in professional life too. But there's a saying that 'Every good comes with bad'. Social media has made our life so accessible that gradually we are departing from reality and we are more concerned about our reel life than real. 

Nowadays, I feel like everyone's brains are clogged up with needless things like who has got how many followers, numbers of likes and comments and which filter should I use to hide myself? The biggest question I am having right now is, in this era of rising digital zombies, are we dooming emotionally? 

With a click or two, we are able to connect to people across the globe but still we feel lonely. First of all, let's understand about isolation and loneliness. Isolation is detachment from others. Loneliness is feeling of being alone. Although both these terms are different, they are still connected. When we see any post on Facebook or Instagram posted by our friends, family or colleagues, we'll start comparing it to our life. It leads to self-doubt and insecurities. So, whenever we go outside, first thought that comes to our mind is, let's click pictures and post it on social media. The main idea behind this is to show people that even our life can be amusing and full of fun. And we start considering this Lights, Camera and Action as reality. This leads to spending more time on social media rather than having meaningful conversations with our loved ones, leading to isolation. 

In order to look cool and happy like them, we hide our true self and are afraid of being vulnerable. We feel alone even sitting in crowd which ultimately leads to feeling of loneliness. Excessive use of social media puts us in constant pressure and stress due to fear of missing out i.e. FOMO on some important activities which fosters comparison and sets unrealistic standards of our connection lives. 

It has become difficult to differentiate between reel and real person due to use of different filters and apps on our fingertips that ultimately affects our mental health. Despite living in technological world which helps us in connecting with others easily, we are the most disconnected and isolated of all. Social media provides livelihood, improves networking, helps building a brand, helps in spreading awareness only if used mindfully otherwise it does not take much time to become an hindrance to our overall wellbeing.

By Ami Mehta