Gone are the days when communication, an important aspect of our life, was dependent handwritten letters. Over the years, letter writing has been replaced by other ways of communication. In this age of technology, people are using easier means to communicate with each other. One such medium of communication is the social networking site or social media. Using it, developed countries have made their communication system completely dependent on technology.
Social media has increased people-to-people contact and thus made the world smaller. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages of social media.
Everyone on social media is an information producer and consumer, which is why we find an abundance of information on social media. Social media creates kind of a mirror effect. We follow our favorite persons on social media and we want to be like them. This mimicking often creates hazards, because the context and surroundings of what we want to imitate may be different from our context and surroundings.
Excessive use of social media creates hyper-reality. The influence of the virtual world becomes more evident to the individual than to the external world. So it can be difficult to make decisions in the real world context. For instance, many couple pictures are seen regularly on social media but in reality they are the thorns in each other's eyes. In fact, most people want to show the good of their lives through social media like Facebook.
Many do not want to bring the pain to the fore. Various digital social media, especially Facebook has gradually become an essential part of our lives. Facebook is involved with everything from trade to entertainment.
But still it is important to distinguish real life from social media, especially when it comes to personal relationships.
Manuer Castles, a sociologist of Spanish descent from the University of Southern California, has written a three-volume book, The Information Age, about the rise of information technology around the world.
The first volume is The Rise of Network Society, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture (Publisher: Wiley & Blackwell, England); based on Manuel's research. AI Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Dhaka University, said, "Manuel wanted to say in his book that we are living in a virtual world because of the network. Gradually what is happening is the net versus personal life. People are becoming lonely in the society. '
Social media creates filter bubbles: Artificial intelligence analyzes algorithms, provides information to individuals according to their preferences, and induces selective perception. This can create a crisis in real-life decision making.
Eighty-four percent of users think that social media is having a negative effect on their daily lives. This statement of the experts can be heard from the mouths of the online addicts. Occasionally they are heard to say, “I am hanging! The head is not working”.
Eric Francesen, a researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, recommends staying offline regularly to keep ourself healthy at this time of information-laden times. Eric Francesen says that while browsing social media, the user's brain becomes cluttered with information and because of this very little information is stored in his brain.
This problem occurs in the brain system which is known as working memory. Many know it again as a short-lived memory. This system of the brain is needed for communication. Eric Francesen says, ‘It helps to filter information and choose what is needed for communication”.
In the age of competition, social media is becoming more consumerist. Pictures depicting life of virtual friends sometimes arouse jealousy. It will create a huge gap in people’s mind. One can go from a smiling person to a terribly jealous person. We are losing in this infinite aspect of social media. The only way to solve this is to focus on the relationships around you. We should put our focus on the thing that has a real reaction.
We should let the youngsters play on the field. Regular reading of books, hanging out with family or chatting with friends, singing or any positive physical activity will help them to get rid of some aspects of this virtual reality.
Wadia Ayshi is a student at the Department of English, University of Dhaka
