When social media was introduced, and we started to use it every day, it became indispensable in our lives. At first, it was straightforward. Users began to find their friends and created a space where they could connect no matter where they were. After the first communication era, the concept of social media evolved by sharing photos, videos, or the content you find on the internet on your wall. This wall is soon to become your digital identity.
Before the digital identity, we must clarify how our identity works and evolves. Identity is an answer to a profound philosophical question which is, ‘’Who are you?’’ It is close to impossible that you can answer this question with a linear response. It is much more complex than simple math equations or facts you encounter in life. What you read, listen to, study, likes & dislikes, hobbies, and phobias eat, drink, and many more dilemmas you wish to find can give the idea of who you are. You might never get a straight answer because, frankly, life is not that simple to answer. And it might not be this precious if it was.
This complexity of life will also bring the same chaos to social media because it is a vast space that not only defines who you are, it allows letting you create an identity from scratch for the rest of the world. You can be the same person on social media and in the real world. But you can be someone or something entirely different from yourself. It is crucial to draw this line between your real and digital life. One will affect the other whether you like it or can control it. With the evolution of social media, it is now possible to share and interact instantly. This makes it even harder to separate your social life and social media. Because now it only requires you to feel like sharing something or yourself.
Since it is getting harder to separate these two lives, and it is very convenient to use these platforms, the one you spend your time more affects the other.
The affection can be diverted and observed in many cases. It can be positive, which can make you motivated to post more and even make it your business, but also it can be demoralizing and more addictive to the responses you have through your social media. The more you have adverse reactions from the world (Sadly, haters outnumbered fans), the more your real life is affected. Depression, lack of confidence, stress, and even paranoia can be seen in users who spend lots of time on social media. As we know it today, social media peaked between 2009 and 2015, and the kids and teenagers born in this era grew up with technology and social media alone. So their identity had to deal with more of these social and digital problems simultaneously.
What to do and how to deal with these problems requires careful attention to those kids who might face these issues. Teenagers spend lots of time with their phones on social media; there is nearly nothing you can do about it. But having an idea of what they are doing and what contents they consume should be observed and kept up with by the parents. If you spot content that might harm your kid’s psychology, you should be able to interfere before it is too late. We also should remember that social media is where your kid starts to shape his likes and dislikes, and it might also help to allow them to think creatively. When you can monitor what your kids consume through the internet, it might help them find their identity, which is very healthy because it might shape what they want to do in the future.
Please tell us what you think of how social media affects our lives and identities and a partial answer that tells us who we are. Do not forget to follow our socials for more! Until next time.