Psy talk contd...

Anmol Singh-Psychologist & Counselor, Chandigarh

Social media often creates problems in relationships from being cheated, to being bullied, to being suspected of doing malicious activities, to breaking up, hatred and jealousy, from being completely loyal to arising misunderstandings etc. Not only your relationship with your partner, but also with your family members. Glued to the gadget, lost in chat with someone miles away, oblivious to the presence of family members even while living under one roof you start to push them away gradually breaking bonds instead of strengthening them, finally into an abyss.  The collateral damage is, in absence of strong bond, we do not open up about stress we are facing & bury the same deep inside us, feel lonely paving the way for anxiety, depression and even suicide.

Hope you can definitely relate. And I want to ask, why? Why do you have to use in excess? There should be a limit, don’t you think? I mean why burden yourself so much? Don’t you agree that a close knit bond in its natural and practical state remains forever, take your time to ponder upon and conclude. Another drawback to the over usage, is lowering of working productivity. Constant usage of social media makes you dull, lethargic, engrosses you into boredom, loss of creativity, makes you think off topic, makes you hyper & creates stress. You’re not able to give your 100%. It is okay and essential to have little breaks while working but don’t let that break turn into hours which will make you repent later. Some social networking sites don’t come with warnings; they just enter all of a sudden and to your astonishment, spoil you. I’m talking about the number of illegal crimes, large extent of cyber bullying, pro hacking, deliberately leaking your information, and lastly virus attacks. It opens up the opportunity for fraud and launch spam, further leading to identity theft. This may lead to cause panic, anxiety and even depression. Now would you like that? You know the answer, I mean who likes to be in stress. Adding to this, social media also gives rise to health issues. Prolonged use has negative effects on your health, darkened patches under the eye, strain in the eyes, inadequate sleep, loss of energy, laziness creeps into your soul, irregular diet, no physical activity, finger  pain due to constant typing. Apart from these stated as above, there are some more in depth talks, that need to be told. It is often claimed that usage of social networking lacks emotional connection and obviously yes, it is true. Real and long lasting emotions are felt by showing your presence. You tend to connect easily if you’re actually seeing or feeling those emotions and not by some stickers or emojis sent online,  whatever they maybe like happiness, anger, sadness or excitement. 

to be contd....