Social media can be a bad influence to your family

Fifteen-year-old Ahmed was smart, mingled quite well with other kids in the neighbourhood, liked to ask questions about how things worked, and seemed to have a promising future ahead of him. Nevertheless, he began to de-attach himself from the family at home (by staying alone and sometimes even spending late nights with his smartphone). His interests and behaviour have changed, and his attitude towards his other siblings at home, be they brothers or sisters, has become aggressive. Ahmed may be under bad influence. Sooner or later, his sister Khadija may follow the same path. What’s the problem?

Laila, a working and loving woman with two children, used to be vibrant, socially kind, and always pleasant with friends, colleagues, and family. Nevertheless, Laila lately has become stressed, has lots of pressure, feels inadequate, and is unhappy, so she avoids people, yet is mostly attached to her smart phone. Laila may also be under a bad influence. Do you see a pattern?

You feel helpless and unhappy, and you also share somewhat similar feelings of inadequacy as your family at home. You also know of other families that are going through similar situations and are breaking up (from marriage to even relationships). This is worrying, this is real, and yes, this is the unfortunate bad influence of social media on you and your loving family.

The names shared above are fictional, yet the stories are factual and real. Look around you and witness the same before your own eyes. Children lock themselves in their rooms (with their smartphones or smart devices), wives or husbands complain and compare with other families (because of what they see and observe on social media via their smart phones), and society as a whole may be living a fake lifestyle (using their smartphones) only to impress the other end of the users of the smartphone (or devices per se). I am sure many readers will relate to these real-world stories. Social media can be a bad influence on you and your family at home. It may also be the reason why many families break up and/or live a very unpleasant, stressful, and inadequate lifestyle.

One cannot deny the benefits that social media and networks can offer to their users, from staying connected with loved ones and updated and informed about everything around them to sharing life and lovely moments with others.

Yet, the negative impact and bad influence they can have on families, friends, and the like can be serious and ultimately disastrous. The proof is in the pudding with the rise in divorces, family detachments, and relationship strains one could see. Quality time with family and friends is reduced, and expectations from one another are increased dramatically, without real justification (but simply by comparing one another to what they see and observe on social media networks).

Many parents have reported that their children spend a lot of time on social media. A study from the University of Michigan noted constant conflict within family relations as a result of the same. The amount of information from various sources that one can obtain from social media can sometimes be overwhelming.

A study by a research centre too found that parents feel stressed and anxious due to the information overload (something I wish to share in detail in my future articles). The National Sleep Foundation reported that over 45% of teenagers do not get enough sleep due to late-night social media use. Please take a home tour at night and see this before your own eyes.

More real-world statistics and research undertaken are a few examples of the bad influence social media can have on families as a whole.

Social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.) make billions of Omani rials profits while offering you a free service to use, of course in exchange for you being their product. The platforms are designed to be very engaging, addictive, and, to some extent, disruptive. Once you sign up for an account, you get hooked, and there is very little you can do to protect yourself or your family from the bad influence social media networks can have on you.

My article this week tries to shed light on the growing concern about social media’s bad influence on society as a whole. Yes, there are benefits from utilizing the same (e.g., starting, running, and promoting a business or initiative via the medium), but unless one really manages how social media networks are used, doom is just around the corner on what and where it can take you. I will try to list some techniques families can use in my future article to help reduce the negative influence social media can have on their loved ones. Until then, stay positive.