5 Signs Social Media Has Taken Over Your Life
Is your life completely dependent on social media? You may be thinking, “Me? No way, I’m not that obsessed with my profiles,” but you’d be surprised how many people actually have problems functioning without social media. It’s not really surprising either, because we can literally turn to social media for almost anything. We use it to talk to friends, keep in touch with family, find out what’s going on in the news, and much, much more. So, check out the list below for five signs that social media has taken over your life!
1. You Know Detailed Information About People You’ve Never Even Met
Without a doubt, if you’re an avid social media user, then there are people out there you’ve never met, yet you know everything about them. You know who they hang out with, what kind of activities they enjoy, what music they like, how many siblings they have, etc. This is actually pretty scary because, on the same note, there are probably people out there who you’ve never met, but THEY know everything about YOU. For this reason, you should always stay on top of your lists of friends and followers, and if someone on the list gives you the creeps, you can always run a background check on their name to make sure they’re not actually dangerous.
2. You’ve Showed Up To (Or Avoided) A Place After Seeing People “Check In”
Lots of social media sites allow you to add a location to your post, and people love to tell all their friends where they are and brag about how awesome it is. You may scan your newsfeed to see where your friends are at, and you may just show up to that place because you already know who’s there. On the other hand, you may see that someone you’re not fond of is there and then choose to avoid that location for that specific reason.
3. You Judge The Success Of Posts By The Number Of Likes/Comments
People seem to get really emotionally invested in their posts, especially when they’re sharing photos. They choose an optimal time to post their pics, and then they wait to see how much attention the image receives from their friends and followers. Their goal is to get as many likes, comments, and shares, retweets, etc. as possible, and they refresh their newsfeed every few minutes to see if there is any new action. These same people also get really upset when they don’t get as much attention as they anticipated, and they may even delete a photo or post that doesn’t receive enough love.
4. You Worry About Mentioning Details That You Only Learned From Creeping
People often struggle to keep details straight when it comes to what they’ve learned about a person from in-person interaction, and what details are a result of social media creeping. This is especially true for people who are dating or forming new romantic relationships. Obviously if you’re into someone you will have visited their social media profiles on one (or several) occasions. So then, when you’re hanging out with this person, you’ll have all this knowledge about them that you might want to talk about in conversation, but you can’t let them know that you know—because then they’ll know you’ve been creeping. You also might have to act surprised when they tell you something about their lives that you already know from your frequent visits to their profile.
5. You Can’t Function Without Social Media
This one is the most telling sign that social media has taken over your life. Before social media sites emerged, if you wanted to see how someone was doing, you’d call them up on the phone and have a conversation. If you wanted to do something with friends, or ask a girl on a date, you’d pick up the phone and make plans to hang out. These days everything is different because social media has taken over as the main mode of communication.
When people don’t have access to their profiles, they tend to freak out a little and they start to feel disconnected from civilization. They have no idea what their friends are doing, or even what’s going on in the world. Most people don’t realize that the good old telephone still exists. So, don’t let social media take over your life. . .call someone up and chat the old fashioned way!
Do YOU think people are becoming too dependent on social media? Let us know in the comments!