Does Social Media Cause Loneliness?
If the Bible were to be reproduced, “Thou shalt love thy stranger as thyself” would indeed find its place. We live in chaotic times, where loneliness and social media go hand in hand--often complementing and complicating people's lives. These days, with access to social media, our social realities are generated in the virtual world. An era of snappy chatter applications – Tinder, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Houseparty – where one’s social realities exist.
Today’s generation would struggle to imagine life without the internet. Life before Facebook and Snapchat has ceased to exist in our lived realities. Life without a mobile screen would seem as dull as a glance at a starless, gloomy sky.
How does social media cause loneliness?
We live in an era where real space is shrinking like never before. Loneliness and social media have been driving our society. A decade ago, the answer would induce scepticism if asked whether they would talk to a stranger on Facebook. In today’s world, we meet people and un-meet them within a few seconds.
Instagram grapples with our egotistical self and excessive confidence. It is where lies become truth, relationships are perfect, family members are blocked, and everyone shows off the best of their lives. Throughout the day, we would scroll through the feed and feel real.
Does social media impact our personality?
As much as we enjoy reading others' messages, we are also dealing with our inability to access reality. We are, therefore, attempting to feel happy in the virtual world of social media. You know how it goes: you slide into a DM of a person you want to talk to and begin your wait game.
You do not feel a thing about it, even if you expect a ‘hi’ from the other end. Within those 10 minutes of exchange of words, you open up about your personal, detailed stories about how your life should be.
Half an hour into the conversation, you are melancholy about how your partners cheated on you and what you did about it. And so on. Realities have faded into an unexpected longing for the unknown. In our quest to enjoy virtual reality and social media, we open ourselves up to unknowns to such an extent that we surrender ourselves. We convey our darkest fantasies, miserable ecstasy, and sad desires to the unknown.
We create stories about our lives for them that exist only in our imaginations. You convey to them how much you hate your so-and-so friends. How much would you want to sleep with an erudite physics professor, whom you had until then restricted to your dreams? For the unknowns, we create realities and recreate them so that they meet their perfect passion. Why would we say anything to the ones we do not know?
One reason would be that we cease to have any expectations from people who do not know us. We also feel secure because we do not know or intend to know them. As a result, our insecurities are hidden in a toolbox that we would never wish to open. In this context, Malcolm Gladwell writes, “Sometimes the best conversations with strangers allow the stranger to remain a stranger.” The unknowns become our tool to deal with reality as it exists.
How does social media affect self-worth, identity, and trust?
As I began inquiring why one finds it easier to talk to the unknown, someone on Instagram said, “Every new stranger will evoke a new identity in individuals. As a result, with every new stranger, a fresh self-identity is formed.” Someone else replied, “It enables you to explore different surroundings and upbringing.” The stranger is like a clean slate. You can draw any version of yourself. A good friend wrote: “We find comfort in talking to a stranger because we can pretend to be someone we are not.
And as humans, we have grown desperate and lonely. Thus, we will mould ourselves into someone the stranger likes.” And as a result, we have grown closer to loneliness and social media.
It is remarkable how much we love talking to strangers more than we do to our friends. Unknowns don’t judge us; even when they do, we don’t care. If the Bible were reproduced, “Thou shalt love thy stranger as thyself” would find its place. However, Matthew would have cautioned us in the next verse, “Keep thy stranger as a stranger.” With the unknowns, we always have the option of not knowing them.
We could vent out all day long, everything we want, and have a veto over the ‘block-clause’. If the creeps come your way in the form of unknowns, which is far more likely, the block option is a touch away.
Why do we feel comfortable speaking to strangers online?
We tend to find another version of ourselves in them. Or know how the other is different from us. Thus, a stranger always contains an element of surprise rather than a pleasant discomfort. We tend to portray our life as it exists or as we wish it to be. Through such an exercise, we put a smile on our faces and reserve our realities for the ones we know. As a result, loneliness and social media often seem like apparent cousins.
Cover Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash