social media bane or boon. (article)
Answers
The world’s advancement in technology and communication came with good intentions; easy communication and easy living. However, to the consternation of adults, we have made ICT a danger rather than an advantage.
When you walk into a room with people you do not know, do you observe mannered gestures such as saying ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ and for those in African countries where respect is primal, ‘Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening’? These little things we ignore all in a haste to dwell in social media where majority of what is found are hilarious, entertainment related or sexual.
Reports have it that teenagers are meant to have exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep but most have 7 instead. Reports also have that many young people get insomnia from active engagements in social media such as Twitter and Tumblr. Does it ever bug you when you realize you could have had enough rest rather than wallow hours in retweeting retweets? Social media is not a pressure, we are the ones that make it seem so. It is acceptable to tweet and share photos of yourself on Instagram as well as other social media applications available. What isn’t right is prioritizing them over every other part of your life.
Are you also a disciple in the fellowship of unregistered abbreviations? Abbreviations that insult the very idea of communication. Posts are uploaded in languages that one’s friends all understand, yet, somehow everyone is expected to understand words such as ‘yhu’, ‘mhie’, ‘hapi’, ‘xowie’ that are used to replace real words like ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘happy’ and ‘sorry’, respectively. It is redundant communicating in such encrypted codes.
Worse, it doesn’t give a good impression to the adults. We are agitating for changed ideologies adults have of us; we want open-mindedness and to be taken seriously. These are nearly impossible to achieve with use of absurd short forms. Willingness to delay pleasure is a great sign of maturity. Let’s be mature, guys.