Social Media Pros and Cons; So Far, Yet so Close
on September 08, 2016
by Sunny Fang
While it’s important and necessary to work with diligence and effort, saving some time for leisure has become essential for most of the people nowadays. However, the balance in between is often difficult to be found and maintain. As technology kept on developing and making progress, the distance between humans became closer via the social network. Nonetheless, while the network enabled people to socialize effortlessly, it causes damage to our eyes, makes people estrange in reality, and is often a distraction to teenagers.
Homework versus Social Media; Who Shall Win?
Kids these days often see socializing as indispensable. For instance, even a five-year-old can be on facebook. Socializing, however, harms the students’ mental and physical health if they can’t be moderate on the time they spent on it.
“As a middle schooler, I think we’ve got too much homework per day. I always sleep at twelve as my earliest,” complained a seventh grader, who requested to stay anonymous and studies at Kaohsiung American School. As her statement show how overwhelmed the abundance of homework had made her, she could’ve slept earlier if she spent less time on Korean drama and facebook. Recently, to express her love of the drama Descendants of the Sun, she is watching the drama for the second time during weekdays. Don’t we just often contradict ourselves? Is it ‘too much homework‘ or ‘too much social network’?
Why Socialize?
Have you ever thought about why is socializing so important to us? Or…is it? Psychology points out that socializing, regardless of being an introvert or extrovert, helps people to reduce stress and anxiety as it ensures people to feel socially connected. On certain aspects, socializing is important for people. It could bring positive emotions such as enthusiasm and excitement to people, according to a study made by researcher William Fleeson. From this point, the social network benefits human as it makes socializing more convenient than ever.
“It saddens me when I see a group of friends hanging out, but focusing on their phones all the time,” said a bystander on the street. In the modern times, the phone-checking phenomenon had shown social anxiety. No one is eager to be the outsider. However, it became confusing when people are still having social pressure when they are hanging out with their friends. As a result of being too concerned about the social network, estrangement grows in between people in reality.
Finding the Balance
The seventh grader, who complained about the amount of homework, deactivated her facebook for several weeks. She determinedly removed one of her distractions to improve the quality of her homework.
“Socializing IS vital,” said most of the teenagers. The social network, however, shouldn’t be overused; or else, teens would soon begin to have social anxiety and become addicted. How can teenagers ensure their use of time on the social network is controlled? The answer varies.