Social media is isolating us from the real world

If used correct, it is an excellent tool to spread awareness and keep in touch with people, but most of the time, it is just a waste of time.

Although social media has a very broad definition. as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking, the first thing that comes to our mind when thinking of it is either Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or some other online forum.

Without having to think twice, we can agree that yes, we do spend most of our time browsing on social media. Howoever, the downfall of it is that it is limiting our human interaction more and more. But, these sites can also be an advantage depending on how it is used. It is beneficial in many ways in the sense that any information can be communicated from one person to the entire world within a minute.

It is a platform where you do not need to know how to write in a flowery language nor do you need to be a writer to express yourself and share your views on social media. It has also proved to be very beneficial when raising issues in the community, and an example of this is the flood victims of Srinagar in which people from all around India united using social media to raise awareness and help the victims.

Similarly, it is helping job seekers in their quest of finding a job as well as companies looking for new employees via sites such as Linkedin or different online HR forums. It is more effective than traiditional ways of looking for jobs in the sense that you can directly apply for the job and in return, companies can directly source the candidates by looking at their profiles. These sites can also be used for referral check, so it is important that you are careful about what you say and share online.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin. The first and foremost being the fact that people waste a lot of time on these social networking sites. While I do agree that these sites help people keep in touch with each other, it is also isolating us from the outer world, and decreasing our face-to-face interactions.

- The readers is an Indian administrator based in Dubai