The internet is quickly becoming an important part of our lives especially in a fast developing country such as Singapore. Our way of living will never be the same again if the internet is absent in the daily activities we partake in. From mundane hustle and bustle such as texting our friends to complex activities such as stock broking, we can clearly see how dependent on the internet society has become.This over dependence has brought about many issues, ranging from spreading of false rumors to the increase risk of our personal information being vulnerable to online hackers.
One of the major problem experienced among the people in society is social media addiction. A person is considered by Walker(2012) to be addicted to the social media if there exist a compulsion to use social media for hours. This is especially prevalent among the people in a country such as Singapore, where the internet is easily accessible and peer pressure when people are commonly interacting with each does not improves the situation.
Being addicted to the social media may seem harmless to many, but there exist various problems this addiction will ultimately cause in due time . One of them is the lack of real communication among the people. Given how easily it is to communicate over social media platform due to the internet, there is no doubt that anti-social behaviour will develop among the people addicted to the social media. This will result in the lack of social skill among the people in society.
Another problem is that social anxiety might develop among the addicts. Rosen(2014) debated whether participating in social media activities is because we seek pleasure or due to social anxiety. Pleasure from sharing our daily life and see the ‘likes’ pile up, giving us a sense of accomplishment or a disillusioned reason to be conceited. There exists a fear that what we do on the social media might not garner popularity among our friends might ultimately lead to social media anxiety being developed. This is a growing problems in our society. Anxiety when not given the proper attention and treatment will lead to depression among the people and eventually lead to a weakening work force.
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Because People are currently too dependent social media platforms that will result in social media problems, the government should promote awareness among the people, to look out for signs for social media addictions.
One solution already implemented by Singapore is the setting up of counselling centers for social media addiction. People are advised to reduce the usage of the social media, and are encouraged to partake in normal social activities such as picking up a new hobby, or maybe attending more social gathering instead of using the social media platforms for hours.This approach is not effective in solving this problem mainly because people are unaware that such a problem even exist. People are unaware that they are addicted to the social media platform. Even more people are unaware that spending too much time on the social media, like every other addiction, will bring about problems. Survey done shows that 72 percent of the people are unaware of such risk. If these people believe that there is nothing wrong with themselves, not many of them will seek help., the “If its not broken, don’t fix it” mentality.
One solution is that the government needs develop and implement campaigns to raise awareness among the people to look out for signs and symptoms of internet addiction. Such campaigns could be implemented via talks by professional counsellors in schools to raise awareness among the students. It could also be held in community centres for parents to look out for signs and symptom in the family. People need to know the risk and dangers of spending too much time on the internet. Prevention should be prefered over cure. If the people are able to release that they or their loved ones are exposed to the risk of social media addiction, they could slowly refrain from accessing the internet and social media platform. And if they are unable to do so, then they could seek help from counselling centers as mentioned above. This solution may still be ineffective. This is because the social media has become an intricate part of society. It is where people share their daily lives, their pride and joy and they sorrows and problem. Having people admit that they are addict and request that they reduce their usage will seem like a tall order.
To conclude, the social media scene is currently larger than ever, and it is still growing bigger and becoming more influential. More and more people uses it, some for entertainment, some for a living. Social media addiction is a real and growing problem, especially in our society, where the internet is easily available. Being addict to the social media may seem harmless on the outside, but to some, it corrodes the character and the mind. It develops anti-social behavior in people and may eventually weaken the workforce and students. It It is essentially for the government to implement solutions that should mainly raise awareness of the risk behind this addiction, tackling the problem at the roots, prevention over cure.
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Walker, L 2012, What is social networking addiction? Retrived from
Rosen, L, Our social media obession. Retrived from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201407/our-social-media-obsession
