Is social media worth it ? Pt.1

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How many of us check our social media as soon as we wake up in the morning?probably the majority for many of us it's part of our morning ritual turn off the alarm check Facebook Twitter reddit

Twitter again and then after an hour we finally get up and start our day a lot of people will admit it's an addiction but is it really that bad surely wanting to keep in touch with friends and stay up-to-date with the news

isn't completely negative right well as with many things in life it's not 100% one way or the other but the research is becoming more alarming and now with the recent Facebook data breaches maybe it's time we really consider whether

social media is worth the risk at its core social media is all about comparison and reward you scroll through your newsfeed and see what all your friends are up to each one presenting the best aspects of their life

for validation and praise when we post a Facebook or Instagram we're rewarded with notifications of likes reactions or comments and each notification gives us a little hit of dopamine to tide us over until the next one what we fail

to realize or choose to ignore is that most of the content we see on social media is completely fabricated that perfectly poured cup of coffee surrounded by trendy knickknacks and coffee beans that took 20 minutes

to set up and you know they didn't drink the coffee that selfie in Rome there's a reason they chose to take it there and not in the crappy hotel everything has to be absolutely perfect in order to be noteworthy in a society

where everyone's life is on display and meticulously curated Instagram pages anything less than perfect is boring this notion of the hyperreal is incredibly damaging rates of depression and anxiety are through

the roof and clearly linked to heightened social media consumption it's not hard to see why we compare our lives all the boring unproductive unsexy behind-the-scenes moments to the very best moments of other people

moments that for all we know they didn't even enjoy because they were so fixated on getting the perfect picture Instagram is the main culprit for negative comparison but each major social media platform has its own critical

flaw Twitter provides just enough characters for users to tweet watered down or overly simplified ideas or stances which leads to massive errors in communication and constant bickering when people are asked to rank

which sites make them the angriest twitter is usually at the top Facebook is a different beast entirely since before the 2016 presidential election Facebook has been plagued with fake users radical groups foreign

propaganda and unbelievable amounts of false or misleading news this information often comes in the form of memes or short videos

which are easily consumed and shared spreading like a virus among gullible or less internet savvy users are also responsible.