Reasons & Countermeasures for Social Media Dependency

With the rapid development of networks, the function of the information technology is getting more and more complete. Social media has become an important part of social life and it brings a great deal of convenience to us. But on the other hand, it also causes negative aspects for our work, life and psychological. People are keen to make friends with others, release personal dynamics and scan news and information by using social media. And I bet most of us have different degrees of social media dependence.

The so-called ‘social media dependence’ refers to the fact that users spend a lot of time and energy on social media to obtaining mental, psychological contentment, and become irritable and anxious when they don’t have the access to use any social media. In real life, it is a common phenomenon that people use social media anytime and everywhere.

When working, studying, walking, eating and even in the toilet, we can- not help chatting, watching video, browsing information.

What’s worse the first thing after getting up is to open the social media to see what’s new in the circle of friends and it’s hard to go to sleep without scanning micro-blog and the WeChat moment. In my opinion, the reasons of social media dependence are as follows. First of all, we are afraid of missing out some information which is released on the social media. A lot of social software like WeChat, QQ provides accesses for us to know about dynamics of our relatives and friends.

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And if we don’t scan the software frequently, we cannot know about the current situation in time.

Additionally, the development of information technology intensifies the intensity of information dissemination. Social media is regarded as the carrier of information spread. And if we don’t use the media often, we may miss lots of latest information. So we use the social media frequently to make sure we can keep up with the outside world and we will not behave like a fool when talking with others. Secondly, we want to show ourselves on the social media to obtain the concerns and agreements. Social media provide a stage for us to show ourselves. We can abreact our moods, upload pictures (may be some delicious food or some beautiful scenery) and share some interesting things. And in my point of view, our main reason to do so is to draw others attentions and want to gain some agreements and build a nice self-image.

Last but not least, we want to identify ourselves by comparing with others. In this information era, we attach more importance to our status and value. Social media provide information platform of self reference. It is easy for people to have emotional feelings about everything that is displayed in social media. It is easy to compare the situation of others, to draw a conclusion whether we are satisfied with the situation in life, emotion, knowledge, work environment etc. And the social media is like a mirror, people use all kinds of messages on the social media to meditate themselves.

Take QQ as an example, when chatting with others by QQ, we will compare ourselves with others unconsciously to define what position we are belong to according to the content of chat. As the social medium is a double-edged sword, we should treat it rationally. It is of great significance to view and evaluate all kinds of information presented in social media objectively. We should be physically and mentally healthy, set up a positive attitude toward life, learn to relax and adjust ourselves, and learn to vent our emotions in a reasonable way.

Reference

1. McQuail, D. (2006). Audience Analysis, 89-90, Beijing: China Renmin University Press.
2. Charles S，Nicole B，Ellison S C，et a1．Social capital，self-esteem，and use of online social network sites：A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,2008，29(6)：434-445.
3. Cooley, C. (1999). Human Nature & Social Order, 30-33, Beijing: Hua Xia Publishing House.
4. Lee S Y How do people compare themselves with others on social network sites? The case of Facebook．Computers in Human Behavior,2014，32：253-260.