Abstaining from the use of social media || The consequences and benefits.

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Communication is vital to the coexistence of humans, As a result of technological advancements resulting to the foundation of social media which has been one of the greatest communication channel of man kind. it is quite obvious that existence of social media has gotten rid of most communication challenges that serves as a hindrance, for example the case of boundaries have been eliminated. As an individual there is no longer the need to worry about distance whenever we wish to reach out to our loved ones, they are just one click away. the introduction of social media has brought the world closer like ever before. it also serve as means of opportunities for those who have earnest the privileges offered by social media to promote their businesses and also embark on building a career on social media such as being a social media influencer.

It is amazing when you think about, how difficult it must have been in those day without social media, the only way to reach out to our loved ones would have been through letters which could take days/months/years depending on the location of the receiver or through phone calls, a communication tool that was too expensive for an average Nigerian to have. especially in the case of disseminating information, the only source of information would have been the conventional media, people would not have alternative source to verify such information being disseminated. there is no doubt that social media has made life easier though it also has its challenge but that isn't the topic of discussion.

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As an individual, over the years I have grown fond of the usage of social media to perform some activities most especially reaching out to people, advertise any kind of product or service I wish to create awareness for. though I wouldn't say I'm actually a pro in making use of social media, looking at the rate at which I use social media to perform tasks, I still consider my activities on social media to be limited. probably because I'm not really building any professional career on social media, maybe if that is the case i would have made use of social media more often but since that is not the case looking at my statistical record of usage of social media on my device I realise social media apps or platforms I make use of are very few.

Sincerely speaking, I have an account on most popular social media platforms apart from tiktok, I still can't figure out why, for some reason I don't like tiktok much 😅. the fact that I have existing account on different social media platforms that doesn't mean I frequently make use of it, I guess sometimes it is just about creating account for later use. probably in the future I might find a reason to make use of the accounts have created. When it comes to usage of social media, they are few I frequently make use of which are:

• WhatsApp
• Twitter {X}
• Discord
• Telegram
• Facebook/messenger
• Snapchat

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My usage of social media depends on my activities, I wouldn't say I don't make use of social media to communicate but it doesn't determine my usage. Among the above social media platforms listed above WhatsApp is my most used because of its features and my activities relating to it. I use WhatsApp mostly for school stuff, there are some vital information shared through my departmental WhatsApp group. I also make use of WhatsApp to chat with my loved ones especially through WhatsApp calling which has made life a lot easier. Can you imagine the amount of airtime you would use if you make use of normal phone call instead of WhatsApp. especially the international call rates but this is no longer a problem because I could reach out to most of my contact through WhatsApp, at least these days everyone seems to be on WhatsApp.

When it comes to the usage of Twitter, it is just for fun and catch cruise😅, there are a lot of weird stuff on twitter and it is the source of most meme but apart from that I make use of it to reach out to service providers whenever I'm in need of assistance or seek for support in any issues I encounter making use of some services, like banks. most of this services have a Twitter handle which has made it easier to interact with them without the need to visit their offices. my activities on twitter grew due to the advent of my hive account which leads me to the usage of discord. it is no doubt that I didn't know of discord until after I got onboard on hive blockchain, since majority of communities on hive activities mostly depends on the usage of discord, though over the years as I grew on hive, I have also encountered different outstanding individuals who I have grown fond of. So to an extent I also make use of it for chats once in awhile. while the remaining social media platforms listed above, I only make use it once in awhile.

Knowing how important some of this social media platforms are to my daily activities, abstaining from its usage wouldn't be easy, there are just too much at stake. I would not say it will be impossible but it is going to be extremely challenging. abstaining from something that has made communicating with others a lot easier will be like saying I should not make use of vehicles for transportation instead I should be trekking. it is quite difficult to ascertain that abstaining from social media would be for the better or worst, I think it will be both for me.

• 1)Reduced communication and engagement: Like I have stated earlier, my use of social media is purposeful. it is one of the effective way I use to communicate and engage with my friends and families, abstaining from social media will cause a drastic change in the rate at which I communicate with people. chatting has made life a lot easier, imagine having to message or call each of my friends everytime I need to here from them, it will be impossible for me because of the cost and time.

• 2)Reduced business opportunities: For someone like me, I have made use of social media to promote the little enterprise I run which has been yielding results over the years. carrying my message across to different target audience across Nigeria, through the use of Facebook, twitter and WhatsApp. abstaining from social media means I have to forfeit this privileges and stick with the old one on one or door to door advertising of my business, isn't that ridiculous 😂. which will reduce the amount of customers and profit I make and that isn't a choice I'm willing to make especially during this hyperinflation making survival more difficult. also since some hive engagement depends on discord, I wouldn't not have the luxury anymore which is something I can't bare to forfeit since it will affect my hive career growth.

• 3) Reduced access to information: As a result of the advent of social media, it has made information more accessible and increased the rate at which it is available. you don't have to worry about missing the news being disseminated on conventional media, you can always visit any social media platform to get an update but without social media I will have depend sole on information being disseminated by conventional media which is mostly filtered.

• 4) coping with boredom: Most times when I'm bored, by strolling through some contents on the social media naturally makes me feel elevated or it could be fun. at least at that moment I would not feel bored. abstaining from social media means I will have to find something else to replace social media but it would not feel as good as using social media.

• 1) Reduced circulation of fake news: The rate at which social media is used to disseminate fake news and rumour is very high, this information are mostly used to manipulate the members of the public since the information on social media are not filtered or censored like the conventional media. without the existence of social media or abstaining from it, it will reduce the rate at which fake information are circulated.

_{This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "No social media" in hive learners community.}