Science and technology

Wednesday, 15 February, 2017 - 08:44

The stress of social media

by MarthaBlogger

WhatsApps. Facebook messages. Texts. Calls. Instagrams. Snapchats. Tweets.

Will we ever be free from the constant stream of notifications? The headache caused by your phone beeping and vibrating 24/7? Being contactable whenever and wherever you are?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d find it really difficult to be sociable without social media. It would be extremely hard to keep in contact with friends and family, especially if they live far away. Organising meet-ups would be a nightmare – imagine having to set a date in writing or in person, weeks in advance. What would happen if you were running late? You wouldn’t even be able to ping your friends a text to let them know. Events on Facebook and WhatsApp group messages have made organising everything so easy. They’ve enabled spontaneity – if it’s a sunny day, why not go for a picnic in the park? Without notifications about the weather, an app for maps on your phone or a Facebook group message to invite your friends and decide who should bring strawberries and who should bring crisps, where would we be? Stuck at home, wishing we’d predicted good weather today when we last saw our friends in person.

But I find social media stressful. If you’re not checking your phone at least every half an hour, you might miss out on something important or fun. If you don’t message that friend you haven’t seen in a while, they might think you’ve forgotten about them. If you don’t remember to shower your bestie with ugly selfies, you might not keep up that Snapchat streak!

If you’re meant to be doing homework, can you resist the temptation to check why your phone is flashing? If you have friends round and there’s a lull in conversation, are you tempted to tap out a quick reply to your friend on the other end of the internet rather than playing a game with your friends on the sofa next to you?

In the 21st century contact is quicker and easier, but that doesn’t mean we have more free time. If anything, the opposite. The ability to send a quick message to one friend means we have time to send one to five others, and before you know it you’re having five conversations at once. How can you really concentrate on any of them? And if your Twitter or Instagram feed is buzzing, why bother going outside to kick a football about or signing up for music lessons? You’re entertained enough – you just never have time to relax, let off steam, enjoy the world. Try leaving your phone at home and doing something productive, maybe even alone, today – you might feel all the better for it.

Language level
B2 Upper intermediate
Topics
social media
mobile phones
Discussion

Does social media stress you out? Could you cope without your phone for a day?

Submitted by Zero54 on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:26

In my opinion, using social media has become a daily part of our lives.
Firstly it’s good for getting news from all around the world at any second. It's not like waiting for the news to show up on TV and if you miss you don’t need to wait for the next day. On the other hand it can cause headaches when using social media too much.Moreover getting fake news or anything like that can make you think of bad things.
However everyone can use social media for different things, like using it to clean your mind.

Submitted by tabonmafia on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:23

In my opinion, social media makes life easier because it helps us with almost everything. If you ask me, we can use our phone less, but we need it really for common things like calling.
I have a few arguments that will support my opinion:
Firstly, if we call someone we are using our phone which is easier than to walk a pair of kilometers to say something to someone is taken much more time.
Also, you can use it to send your mother a text message that makes her less concerned why you are late.

For all the reasons above, I believe that social media helps us much in our daily life, but too much isn't good at all.

Submitted by wicoStudent on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:20

I think social media can be helpful to have contact with friends and family. But sometimes I find it stressful to always get a notification and it is annoying that my screen turns on. that is why I turn off all notification except for important people like my parents. I also don't use my phone after a certain hour, I think that it helps to relax and have some time for yourself.

Submitted by Senne on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:16

In my opinion, I think that social media is a good thing. Yes you can get lost in your phone once in a while but you also have the benefits of meeting new people and also keeping in contact with people all over the world, maybe you made some friends on vacation and with help of social media you can still talk to them whenever you want to.

Submitted by joseph joestar on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:14

The way i see it, there is a difference in checking your phone and being addicted to your phone. If every time you check your phone, you go on instagram or send a selfie on snapchat you are in a way addicted. Also if you are trying to study put your phone out of eye sight and put in on silent that way in can't distract you from what you are trying to do. If you can't stand not seeing your phone you're also addicted. The phone is very useful for inviting friends or checking the weather to see what clothes to wear, but you can live without it for a day.
And that is why I dont think social media stresses you out.

Submitted by Crabo_ on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:07

I think that social media especially nowadays is and will stay important to both teenagers and adults, but I think it's most important for teenagers, being able to instantly send and receive texts or view what another person is doing. It has a big list of negativities that can be solved pretty easily. For example: The urge to sit on their phones while they're supposed to make homework is easily solvable by the parents either disciplining their children or their parents "taking" the phone untill they've shown completion of the homework they're supposed to do. However, it does have many other downsides other than the things mentioned in the post. Teens now will post on social media thinking they will get x amount of likes or followers within a timespan of their newest post and if they don't achieve that they will start feeling bad about themselves and about what they have posted. Another bad example of the downside of social media is the introduction of mass-hackers, catfishes, scammers and the list goes on. It is easily avoidable by thinking before you do anything online and/or rethink. There are negative effects too that I won't be explaining further. I think we all know how to use social medium good and what not to do and it's the person their responsability when they post or do something on social media that they think is fine.

Submitted by Jamal-Ayoub on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:05

in my opinion, social media is necessary and important. I've never had a dangerous situation, but I agree that social media has negative impacts on us. But if you are smart enough, you never get a dangerous situation. It is a verry nice way to always have contact with your relationships.

Submitted by SiktirGitBruf on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 15:05

I think that social media is good for those who use it as it is intended but it is not good for the people who use it to bully someone or just to not communicate with other people. Sometimes you have to leave your phone at home because otherwise the social contact disappears.

Submitted by qcr7eren on Sun, 06/05/2022 - 18:46

I think social media is good for those who use it productively

Submitted by hermione123 on Sat, 01/02/2021 - 12:54

i do not use social media like Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. i don't use my phone so often. i just use it for homework. so, i'm pretty sure i can cope without my phone for a day or maybe more.

Submitted by Mary_Ryzhowa on Tue, 10/13/2020 - 13:20

As for me, I think that social media is very stressful. I work on the computer a lot, and I need time for relax. I turned off almost all notifications, but whatever I get a lot of notifications about massanges from my friends. Unfortunatelly, most of all is silly video or memes.
Profile picture for user empty

Submitted by empty on Tue, 07/23/2019 - 08:00

In my opinion , the social media is really important but it has a negative affect on us . I say : leave your phone at home , the only thing that it does is to make you addicted to itself !
English courses near you