What first comes to your mind when you hear the word Social media. Let me guess… Information or Connecting people or A self expression platform, right? That is absolutely true. But why this article is titled as Why Social media is so toxic

Here’s a short experiment I want you to preform

Imagine your life when you weren’t connected on Social Media
Seems more peaceful and fulfilling than the current one. Right?

Yeah, you were not connected with the people all around the world. You were not able to chat with someone whole night.

But it didn’t really bother you.

And now look at your current life. Even though you have access to any kind of Information, Data, Person and any other damn thing around the world, you are not fulfilled.

And this is a very shocking reality which we are living in.

Instead of so many advantages Social Media is so toxic. Why?

Let’s try to understand

5 Reasons Why Social Media is Toxic

1. There Are So Many People On Social Media

I am sure 90% of the people you know are connected with you on Social Media.

There are so many Websites, Apps and platforms which are being used by huge number of people on this planet.

How these people(we) are making Social Media toxic?

Imagine a room containing people more than it can accommodate. Feels Noisy, Disturbing and Dirty. Right?

And that’s how so many different people at one place makes the Social Media so toxic. Because there is excess of almost everything and anything.

Also read: Why So Many Depressed?| How To Deal With It?

2. So Many Opinions Are Shared

Obviously if there is such a huge crowd on the Social Media, there are even more number of opinions.

Every person has different opinions about every topic. Though this is a natural thing but it is actually one of the major reason why Social Media is so toxic.

These opinions can influence any person on the internet. We all know a simple tweet or a post or an image/video can reach to millions people within short period of time.

And we all are getting influenced by these so many influencers on social media. Every person on social media is an influencer influencing others, directly or indirectly.

As most of the opinions shared are negative, they are making our lives more toxic.

3. Hate Content / Fake News / Negativity

Social Media is now the best place to mislead people by spreading Hateful / Negative / Violent content.

Because this kind of posts are most easily shared by people on any social media. These Hateful or negative content and fake news acts as a trigger for more Hate, Negativity and even violence.

Anyone can post An edited picture or video claiming to be the true and no one will know it’s reality. Instead it will get the most shares & retweets.

There have been so many incidences of extreme fake news being shared and even accepted by people.

4. Comparisons with others

More than sharing our personal lives, social media has made comparisons with others easier than before.

You can’t use social media without comparing your life with others. No, it’s not social media’s fault. It’s a human nature to make comparisons.

The problem is we only see a moment captured or few minutes long videos on such platforms. So what we see for moment isn’t necessarily true.

Maybe the best couple picture you saw on Instagram was clicked when actually they weren’t even talking with each other.

You never know the reality. Yet we all often feel insecure & doubt our lives when we see others having good time on social media.

Also read : Why So Insecure ?

5. Trolls / Memes

Can you imagine a day without reacting Haha at a Meme? Me neither.

One of the best parts of Social media is Memes & Troll pages. They are funny, relatable and makes us feel lighter on stressful days.

So why am I including this as one of the reasons of social media being toxic?

Because many people are crossing limits and making memes which more offensive than funny. Trolling Actors, Politicians, Sportsmen, Religions and even countries extremely which has caused only bad.

Imagine thousands or even 10 people are trolling you and making fun of you. How would you feel?

Then you can imagine how difficult is for those people who deals with such trolls & memes from thousands of people.

There have also been cases of Mental Health issues & even suicides due to negativity received on social media.

I often get disturbed whenever I see any Person, Religion, Country or anyone getting any kind of negativity on Social media.

So How To Make Social Media Less Toxic

1. Don’t Believe Everything You See On Internet

I have already written a whole article on this topic. By looking at current chaos in the country (India), it’s very important to follow this statement very strictly.

Don’t believe everything you see on the internet – 4 Reasons Why

Because so much of fake news are being spread via Edited images & morphed video clips. As I said earlier in this article, such fake posts can influence so many people over the internet & cause adverse effects.

So be careful while you come across any of such posts and share only when you know it’s 100% true.

2. Being Real You

Stop trying to be someone else just because you think it’s cool on Social media.

Yes, you do have rights to express yourself the way you want to. But it doesn’t give you freedom to harm anyone in any way.

Do not share any thing just because your friends are doing or it is trending. Make sure you know what you are sharing & how it can affect others.

Just be yourself and respect others the way they are.

3. Spreading Positivity

Social media and even Media is full of Negativity. Just try to read a Newspaper & you’ll find most of the news are negative.

I am not denying any of those negative things happening all around the world. But presenting them in a haunting way and scaring the readers or viewers is totally wrong.

Only way to fight this repetitive Negativity is by honest efforts to spread positivity through social media. Our few kind & positive words can make someone’s day better.

So, don’t forget to be kind & spread positivity as much you can.

Also read: How To Be Happy ? Happiness Simplified

Final Words

Lately, I’ve been very disturbed due to increasing toxicity on social media. I have been observing myself on how I get affected wherever I come across any kind of negativity on social media.

So, I decided to write down all my feelings and share what I have experienced.

Here, social media isn’t to be blamed. It’s us who are making it such a toxic place. Only we can change it and use it for much better cause than just wasting our valuable time sharing negativity.

I hope this article reaches to many people and help them realise importance of their few clicks on Social media.

Thank you for reading !

[Reposted On 30th December 2020, Originally Posted On 23rd December 2019]

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