25 Ways Social Media Is Ruining Your Life

These days, almost every single aspect of our lives is dictated by the internet. Every year, technology makes leaps in bounds to provide more convenience for every single person.

That much is made clear when you look at the average American household. There are at least 10 different high-tech devices within the home and they’re all connected to the internet. And while technology has brought us more comfort and convenience in our lives, there are some darker and negative sides to it.

With all this technology we spend less time in the real world as we are wrapped up in the world that social media has created. And that has some steep costs. Below is a list of a handful of things that social media is doing to us all.

The Right To Never Be Forgotten

In the early 2000s there was a talk about the right to be forgotten. The idea was that if someone made a post of any kind that the recipient didn’t like, they could request authorities to remove it.

It’s a little silly because one of the aspects about the internet is that it’s massive and that there will always be talk. If you want something to get removed, there will be talk of you trying to remove that thing you wanted gone in the first place.

Social media is no different. While there are literally hundreds of thousands of posts being sent out every day, they can still get uncovered. They won’t all get lost in the noise.

Ads Are Targeted

One other aspect of the internet is targeted ads. The idea with these is that ads are more tailored to what it is you are looking at or thinking about.

Planning a vacation? You’ll see ads pointing to discounted flights.

Thinking of joining the dating scene again? You’ll get ads for dating sites left and right.

Looking for productivity tools? You’ll get pushed courses or other items to boost productivity.

While we consider these as great perks, there are other ways to interpret them. Similar to how our news feeds are tailored to our views, the fact remains that happens because complex algorithms are taking that information and are changing the system.

How you get targeted ads is the same way. Though the algorithm is turning around and selling it to advertisers instead.

You Become A Stalker

Social media has normalized a lot of things. Hate speech is one thing we’ll cover later, but one other aspect is stalking behaviour. It’s okay to admit you’ve looked at someone’s profile page and checked out what they are up to. That’s normal behaviour and is what a profile is for.

But you’re pushing the boundaries when you start checking out what they were doing last year or watching their every post like a hawk. The problem is social media makes it really easy to do this.

You Replace Real-Life Interactions

And on the note of being a stalker, too much social media can also lead to you replacing a lot of your social interactions. It’s a little ironic considering social media was designed to connect people.

And it does to a degree.

And while there are studies out there that state interacting with others through a screen or in person are the same, we can find ourselves replacing a lot of our interaction with others. This can lead to development issues in the future.

Dealing With Hackers

While the vast majority of people on social media are all about making connections and connecting with friends and such, there are others with different intentions. For hackers, their goal is to steal people’s information and use it for all kinds of things.

And once they have your information, they can do all kinds of things with it. Steal your identity, get access to your bank account. The number of possibilities is endless.