The Social Media Balance

In 2021, the possibilities for being connected are endless. Information is available at the tips of our fingers, and through a screen we can connect with friends from miles away, research topics we find interesting, and hear about events that are happening from across the country or globe. Major events that once would have needed days or weeks to be heard about in other countries are now heard about as they are happening, and millions of people are able to be involved in the politics and happenings of a country that they do not reside in. Information is a powerful thing in this day and age, which means that it is more important now than ever before to be aware of how we handle this technology.

With so much going on in the world today, it is easy to spend hours scrolling (and scrolling and scrolling) on social media. Social media can become a black hole, where the information is endless and everyone’s opinions are available to read. It has become easy for social media to be a large hourly portion of our days without it being something that actually adds anything to our lives. Reading the same thing online about a global pandemic can make even the happiest person start to feel a little gloomy. Personally, I can’t count the number of times that I’ve thrown my phone down, realizing that I just spent hours getting frustrated over the negative atmosphere online. What can be used as a good tool can easily become something that causes us to be negative and that in the end is unhealthy. Now more than ever, it is important to be careful about what we read and believe on social media and how we allow it to shape what we think and believe. Social media is full of opinions which hold little to no truth, and living in this generation means that we need to dig deeper to find the truth behind what the media is telling us.

On the other hand, we can’t just be people who live under a rock. It is impossible to ignore what is going on around the world just because it does not directly affect our day to day lives. What happens around the world does affect us individually, even though it may be impossible to see in the moment. World events can affect dollar values, the stability of the financial markets, how much we pay for certain imported items, and our jobs. The decisions made in Canada’s parliament will eventually start affecting you and the amount of taxes you pay. We can’t afford to be uninformed our whole lives, but it is crucial for us to have a healthy relationship with our information sources. It is important for us to stay informed so that we understand the dynamics of the world that we live in and how we need to prepare for the effects that those world events will have on us.

Some of us may need to put our phones down, turn off the news alerts, and be careful that we don’t get sucked into the anger which is so prevalent on social media today. For other people, this may be a reminder to not live uninformed about the events taking place that will shape the world that we live in. In 2021, having a healthy relationship with social media information is more important than ever before. The balance is key. Be informed without letting the information overtake and control your life.