Madame Blossom's Book of Poems

Sunday, September 01, 2024

Social Media is making us stagnant

A lot of people are beginning to realize that information does not equal wisdom.   You may argue that some information from the social media does add value and give us knowledge and tips.  However, it is like 10-20% out of the ocean of junk being thrown at us. 

Meantime, our mind, like sponges is absorbing all these other unnecessary contents, some weird, and some so totally not related to us.   Our minds, instead of focusing on our personal issues at hand, our family, the people around us and our lives - are distracted with thoughts and images from all those unnecessary inputs into our brains. 

The balance 10-20% of those useful tips and information we receive, needs action from our end - however we keep scrolling for 'more useful information' while constantly being bombarded with waste.

In this area, I think we should always challenge ourselves to BE BORED.  Don't take the easy way out of feeding our boredom with our phones.  It's only when we're bored, we are able to think - given the space and downtime from endless inputs.  It's only when we're bored, we can try to find OTHER things to do that does not involve our phones.  If you need information from the internet, maybe we can get it quickly and pen it down (penning things down help with studying and recalling) and refer to that instead. 

Social media has also affected our social construct.   I'm referring to the real-world society - the people actually living around us.   We are tricked into believing that our communication or reactions to social media inputs, is a form of 'socialising'.    That  constant practice has made us so attuned to just using our fingers to communicate, and not with our actual voices.   It's now normal to express how we are not comfortable talking in person, how we prefer texting.   There were some good in it, but now it is becoming more of a problem.    Even among own family members, I have become more complacent - not actually speaking to them, but just texting. 

Yesterday someone reminded me, texting is different from speaking in person.  When texting, you never know how the person truly feels.  A person can text you "I'm fine", but if you had heard the voice -  you might have detected something different. 

I'm reflecting on myself and my connection with God, and my connection with my family and friends.  My children who will soon or someday become a part of another family, needs to be accustomed to talking in person.   May Allaah help us is improving in that area.   May Allaah make it easy for me to take that first step. 

May Allaah protect us from the negativities of social media.    Aamiin.

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