IMAGINE HAVING NO SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is both the highlight and downside of our lives

First, you have the positives, for example, feel-good videos, positive messages, entertainment and humour. But there are negatives as well, such as cyberbullying, hate speech, graphic content and trolls.

Not all the content that we see online is safe and friendly.

Tag asked parents if they wanted their children online, and some said ‘No’.

Pros and cons of social media

One of the best things about social media is that we can easily meet like-minded people. Although, with that being said you must be extremely careful when meeting people online because internet safety is a common concern. We all know that we should not reveal personal details to people we don’t know in real life, or meet them in private. Sites allow people to find others with similar interests that you can create an online relationship with and get to know on a deeper level. Some of these include Reddit for general topics, Discord for specific communities and TikTok for trending topics.

One of the cons is fewer physical interactions, giving rise to a reduction in face-to-face socialising and its replacement with online interaction and lower quality relationships with other people.

The Addiction Center [sic] in the United States says that “a scholarly journal published in 2021 by the National Library of Medicine reported that 6.3% of the overall population are addicted to their smartphone”.

Interview with an expert

We got in touch with Jacob Law, 16, who runs a successful social media account based on mountain biking. We asked him “What would you do without social media?”

Jacob said “I would probably be fine. I rarely use it unless it’s for messages” and “Be normal, probably actually enjoy doing things”.

We also asked “How does social media help people?” Jacob told us that it enables them to communicate with other people who they might not know without it. “A great thing about social media is that it gives you a chance to show off things that you like or that you’re good at.” Jacob uses social media to enable people to show off their biking skills and equipment. Finally we asked him, “What would you miss?”. We weren’t shocked by his answer: “Funny videos”.

Social media is a great pastime. But you might find yourself scrolling all day everyday. Here are three ways you can limit your dependence on the socials: 1 Avoid checking for updates, replies or posting something for blocks of time when you are busy doing other things such as at college, school or work. 2 Log out of apps periodically, that way you won’t keep checking on them. It is

more fun to log back in and receive lots of messages. 3 Try not scrolling. Instead, check the top or latest update, and then only read the three accounts you enjoy the most.

We hope that you have found this article useful in reminding you to take more frequent breaks from social media. You are the only person that can help yourself from being overloaded, perhaps it’s time for a change.

Joshua Tapp Design: Sam Angel

GET HELP FROM TRAINED SPECIALISTS

If you or any of your friends are struggling with cyberbullying, visit www.childline.org.uk or call 0800 1111