Did you know approximately 38 million people in the UK use social media? Many people believe that social media is taking over and controlling people’s lives. Due to the fact that there is always an urge to go online to talk about ourselves and see what other people are doing. It gives us a sense of identity, belonging and validation, where this causes us to be glued to our phone screens 24/7 as we cannot miss out on the latest news or trends.
Social media is a huge part of people’s daily lives, either for the better as we can meet new people or for the worse as it can consume us. However, it’s taken over for the worse as people find it harder to communicate without the virtual world.
I conducted a study of 15 people where I found 7 of them use social media 3-5 hours while 8 of them uses 6+ hours which proves that social media has taken over our lives as we are constantly on it; All said that social media was taking over their lives. Some people responded that this was due to “if social media did not exist people would not know what to do in everyday life.” Another response argued “if you don’t use it you won’t fit into the social norm of society, it’s becoming the norm of socialisation.”
In conclusion, social media does control us because people want to fit into societal norms where they are accepted; people can express themselves the way they want.
Sevil Osmanogullari, Eltham Hill
