The pros and cons of deleting social media
Recently, I pondered about the concept of social media, I spent a lot of time wondering about the pros and cons of quitting or deleting social media. Are there actually pros and cons of quitting social media?
Just like every other thing that has an advantage and a disadvantage, there are pros and cons of quitting social media. The pros include; happiness, freedom while the cons include FOMO which means the fear of missing out.
One major pro of quitting or deleting social media that a lot of people talk about is freedom. There is a kind feeling of freedom that comes with quitting social media. Especially when you seem to be in competition of likes and comments with your friends.
A lot of negative effects and consequences have been associated with the excessive use of social media. The next time you spy on someone’s new year resolution and number one resolution is to quit social media, don’t be too surprised.
A major trigger or motivating factor to quitting social media is the numerous amounts of blog posts containing testimonies such as
“I quit social media and my life change”
“2 months of freedom after quitting social media”
“How quitting social media boosted my self-esteem”
“I have more time to focus on my job and career as I quit social media”
The truth is quitting social media does not guarantee a total change in your life.
Of course, there are so many benefits that come with quitting social media, however, to get a change in life you need more than quitting social media.
Quitting social media offers you the benefit of time but it doesn’t automatically stop you from being lazy. Or magically gives you a job and grows your finances.
The pros of quitting social media are docile, they need other factors to be activated. For example, if you quit social media, it provides you with more time.
You can choose to invest your time in picking extra hours of work or you writing that book you never had enough time for.
In summary, the effects of social media are dependent or specific to the particular individual.
10 pros and cons of quitting social media
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Freedom
This is one of the major reasons so many people want to quit social media. To feel free, free to do what they like without receiving judgment from anybody.
Free to make decisions without judging themselves based on the posts or comment someone made online.
A lot of people hold social media in high esteem and always want to seem perfect in their social life. I know of a lot of nerds and geeks who are extremely popular on social media.
Therefore, social media provides a second chance or opportunity for people to feel like who they aren’t in real life.
This might sound conflicting, but it is the truth, there are so many people who work so hard to maintain a fake life online. Therefore, when they suddenly quit social media, they feel like a huge weight is taken off their shoulders.
Con
The fear of missing out (FOMO)
Nothing scares a lot of people like the fear of missing out. It is that feeling you get when everyone in your clique is talking about a particular thing but you have absolutely no idea about it.
Having no idea about a particular concept is really awkward, I have been in such situations a few times and it is not the best feeling.
Social media keeps you up to date about what is happening in different industries; entertainment, politics, sports, fashion and even global updates.
When you make the decision to quit social media, your information tank depletes.
Someone reading this might say, I can always watch the news! I totally agree with you.
However, the television is not like social media that has all information in one place as you scroll down.
With the television, you have to shuffle through different channels, fashion, politics, global, national. And this can be way more exhausting than scrolling down your social media feeds.
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Time management
Social media just like every other thing we do requires time. We are basically exchanging our time to obtain the fun and information that the media has to offer. Sounds like a good deal, right?
A number of times social media has been listed among the top time wasters in the world. People leave other tasks they are supposed to engage in and focus their time and attention scrolling through their feeds.
Quitting social media leaves you with a lot of extra time to focus on other activities that require your attention.
A world without social media is a world with more spare time. Now the major question is what will you do with the extra time?
Con
More time to waste
I hate to say this but quitting social media does not guarantee that your time will be put into more effective activities.
Social media might be a time waster but there are other time-wasters worse than social media.
When you quit social media, it is your responsibility to decide what to do with your time. I really wonder what you would do with all the extra spare time.
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An exit from fake love
It is not new that most love from social media might be nothing more than fake and temporary love.
It is not the most genuine love, because the people that claim to love you can turn on you with a little mistake.
People love you on social media when they can resonate with your personality, dress sense or career. However, when you make a little mistake, they will all come to tear you down.
The fake love from social media lasts for as long as you remain in their good books. Therefore, quitting social media is synonymous to booking a first-class ticket away from fake love and support.
Don’t misinterpret, I’m not saying that every “fan love” is fake love. I’m simply trying to point out that genuine or true love is not a characteristic of social media.
Con
Loneliness
There are so many people that enjoy attention and do not care if it’s fake or not. For example, a nerd who has zero friends in real life but over 200 thousand followers on social media.
If such a person decides to quit social media when they have no friends, they experience loneliness.
For this reason, so many people prefer to be popular online, receive fake love and attention. Then to be a lonely and sad person all day long in real life.
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Focus on interpersonal relationship
A lot of people have no time to build a personal relationship with their friends, family and even client base.
If social media is more than enough to build an interpersonal relationship. Then why do musicians embark on tours to connect with their fans?
It is true that social media is helpful but there is only so much it can do. Quitting social media will give you enough time to hang out with your friend and families.
Con
Loss of money through social media ad
“Word of mouth” as an advertising tool is effective but there is only so much it can do. With the rise of social media influencers, you can advertise your goods and services and make so much money doing so.
However, deleting social media kicks, you out of this advantage. How do you communicate with the influencers or even advertise your business on your page?
You lose all potential clients and profits that you can gain through social media advertising.
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Personal capacity development
Spending so much time on social media leaves you with no time to spend on personal growth and development.
There are classes you need to take, books to read and more skills to acquire. However, if you spend the majority of your time scrolling through your feed, how do you develop yourself?
Social media breeds procrastination, you hear statements like “I will do next week, no in the next one hour or tomorrow”.
Con
Loss of fun
Funny videos, quotes, memes and hilarious posts that are present on social media will be a thing of the past for you.
I seriously can’t imagine a day without watching one funny clip or reading a funny meme. It will be a really boring day especially when no one is around.
Deleting social media means depending on life situations or movies to make you laugh. Loss of fun is definitely a major reason why so many people cannot quit social media.
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No fear of criticism
Despite how healthy criticism can be, sometimes it is absolutely harsh, rude, humiliating and annoying.
It comes in different ways and from different people who have little to no understanding about the issue.
Deleting social media offers you a chance to be free from the web of critics on social media.
There is an alternative solution which is choosing to ignore the comments. However, most people find it really hard and difficult to ignore critics.
Cons
No sincere feedback from people unfamiliar people
Most times our friends and family members do not want to hurt our feeling, therefore they reserve their sincere feedback.
This is the opposite on social media, as people do not personally know you. Therefore, they can give sincere and useful feedbacks that can be very useful.
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A boost to self-esteem
A lot of people testify about an increase in self-esteem after quitting social media. Social media is a place for different people with different information and skills.
Therefore, you might think you are doing great but just one scroll through Instagram explore page might disagree with you.
This affects so many people negatively rather than positively. It makes them feel like they are behind and might never catch up.
Quitting social media offers then with peace. They focus on their ability and appreciate their efforts.
Con
How resilient is your newly found self-esteem?
Can you truthfully answer the question above? If you decide to go back on social media what will happen to your newly found self-esteem?
Will it crumble or will it withstand the competition
Quitting social media keeps you narrow-minded. There are so many people doing the same business, everyone has different skills, talents and client.
Social media helps you stay at the top of your game and exposes you to evidential tips from your counterparts.
Conclusion
So many people argue that social media has done bad than good in our society, is this really true?
From the above pros and cons of deleting social media, we can see that every disadvantage of social media has a beneficial advantage.
The best way to use social media is moderately, as it has become part of our lives. It affects almost every area of our life, our career, jobs, personal life, family and even religious activities.
Quitting social media completely is a really tough decision to make as it is highly interwoven with our daily activities.
The choice is yours to make. If the magnitude of the cons supersedes that of the pros, then you can make the decision of quitting social media.