Social Media is all the rage these day’s, especially with my technology savvy generation. With all of the buzz around social media sites, it is hard to get away from them. Social media can be awesome, fun, and helpful to your career, but how do you know when your spending too much time on social media sites? Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and countless other sites, make it hard to escape the online world. We many times, find ourselves surfing Facebook, pinning away on Pinterest and constantly tweeting through out the day. Could you spend an entire day without getting on any of your social media accounts? The answer for many is no.
In a world where most of us have four to five social media accounts, it is definitely hard to stay away from them. So, the real question is, when does your social media presence become too much? Some may say that you can never have too much of an online presence with all of our technological advancements over the years. While this may be true, there could also be a point where people become consumed with their accounts.
Our social media accounts provide us with a place to promote ourselves professionally but they also provide us with an escape. I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting online to work on homework and the next thing I know, I have wasted two hours on Facebook or Pinterest! At this point, I am obviously not using my accounts to promote myself but for my own leisure and pleasure. This is okay, but in the process, I am putting my school work on the back burner. I don’t think it is just students who have the problem either. I have watched the same thing happen to my older friends and family members who have careers. They get on their computers with the intention of getting some work done and almost always end up on their social media sights. Some employees are even surfing their sights at work. How can we differentiate between, using social media for good self promoting and fun and abusing it?
It is obviously unhealthy to spend hours upon hours on our social media accounts but it still happens. I think people need to realize that life does not revolve around these sights. While we are spending hours on our accounts, society is still moving. Time goes by, work gets done, and people go about their business. Social media can be an awesome helpful tool but it can also be unhealthy. I challenge everyone to reflect on how much time they are spending on their social media accounts and if they are actually being used for good.
Nice topic Gemma! I have noticed that alot of college students use social media as their main way to communicate,and are weak with face to face communication which is a vital skill in the professional world. While social media is enjoyable and useful we can’t forget to develop our face to face interactions as well.
It’s becoming a major addiction without a doubt and there’s now even a medical term for people who have a fear of being without their smart phone. I think smart phones are half the problem with this growing addiction, as well. It’s so easy to get on to a social media site in the palm of our hand while sitting at work or even out to dinner. People have become so ingrained with this need to be on social media and I think that addiction is specific to our generation. We are entirely too concerned with the insignificant mumbo jumbo that people share on social network sites. I won’t say I’m not guilty of it either, but I think you’re right that it;s an important thing to reflect on. It has the power to be an incredibly useful tool in life, but also has the power to be a huge threat. It’s a double edged sword for sure.