Are you missing out?2 min read

Every morning we go through the same ritual.
We wake up and check if we have new messages on Whatsapp, answer quickly to some of them, ignore the group chats. Then we move on to Facebook, check notifications, new friend requests and our memories. Erase the awkward ones. Check Instagram. How many likes on our last photo? Any new followers? What about twitter? Checking the time, we realise that we should get out of bed. We can check our emails on the commute.
Everywhere we go, whether we are in the tube, at a café, park, in class, at home or work, we are constantly on our phones. We’re absorbed in them.
But what is it that makes us addicted?
Social media are a way to communicate with others. Probably not the person next to us, but everyone else out there. Celebrities, distant friends or family, people that have the same interests as us. We get to be part of their lives, instantly, whether they are doing something boring or eating exotic food on the other side of the world. With every update, these platforms are evolving, becoming even more inclusive. We can now read articles on Facebook, get to know about the last insane thing Trump said right away, we get to join a bigger discourse in answering back, express and share our opinion; we get advertising tailored for each one of us individually thanks to cookies feeding on our search history and interests, constructing a trap, a web, around us that keeps us engaged.
It is harder and harder to ignore our phone’s beeps and little colourful led lights.
What’s also good to bear in mind is that social media don’t always picture things for what they really are. Most of times they just show us the good sides. Writing a post people can choose what to say but also what to omit. With a photo, things can be cropped out and edited, focusing on a specific point of view. Although we are given a platform to express ourselves, our diversity and share our interests, social media can also have a bad impact on our daily life. Researches show that, especially in young people, they can lead to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, bullying and FOMO (fear of missing out). That is particularly evident with Instagram and Snapchat, as they are image-focused platforms. In Snapchat’s case we are attracted by the possibility to apply ‘cute and funny’ filters, with some distorting our facial features, making the insecure ones more comfortable with their virtual appearance.
Social media can be great, especially to connect people across the world, to spread messages of diversity and acceptance but, like everything else, it should be used in good measures to make sure that we don’t miss out on the little things. Like the conversations that we could have face to face and laughing, actual loud laughter, with people instead of just typing “hahaha :)”.