The Disconnected Generation

“Distracted from distraction by distraction”

― T.S. Eliot

Image Source: Jan-Joost Verhoef on Flickr

Being a millennial, I am expected to be, by default, a promoter of social media platforms. We are the “connected” generation, aren’t we?

We are not. We are disconnected, distracted, manipulated, and our overall mental health is at stake.

Many think of social media as a digital network that aims to connect people to share ideas and to bring people closer to one another. It was new, cool, and was considered a new digital revolution. People were now posting what was on their minds, uploading pictures, videos, liking, commenting and sharing others` posts and ideas.

Now, billions of people are on social media. Children, teens, adults, everyone. And the flow of information, content, advertisement, ideas, and news (real or fake) is quicker than ever before.

Here is a question: What is Facebook?

Since 2006, Facebook`s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has been asked this question over and over, and his answers were changing over time. Across the years, Facebook transformed from a site where students in different colleges would accept each other as friends into one of the most influential companies in the World. And Mr. Zuckerberg became one of the richest people on the planet. Facebook now has billions of users and has enough power to affect the political landscapes all over the world. I was present as a teenager when a Facebook page started the Egyptian revolution in 2011. Until this day, it seems that Mark doesn’t have a clear definition of what he has created.

Social Media or social life?

Social media has been directly linked to higher levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression, envy, narcissism, and decreased social skills. Around 40% of the world’s population use social media, with a daily average of 2 hours. Online, we can easily fall for the illusion of companionship. Not being able to differentiate gathering thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends, writing wall posts and tweets from real human communication. Suddenly, a tool to connect us all, leads us into deep solitude and disconnects us from one another, and more dangerously, from ourselves.

Our minds should not be handling the amount of information that we are exposed to while being online. Negative news, murders, suicide, and violent behaviors are heavily broadcasted on social media and attract the most views. Children, teenagers, and mentally unstable individuals have equal chances when it comes to being exposed to these types of content.

Imagine how easily any child could watch a video posted on social media of someone getting violated in any way; it can cause trauma and would scar her or him for life.

Around you, everything is being digitalized, that includes relationships, emotions, sex, and our whole sense of being. You have a Facebook account, but give no account to your true self. We are losing our real connection; with one another, our environment, and with nature.

We are being distracted from reality; detaching from life itself. We are devaluing our human values, our bodies, our sense of the surrounding, and we are getting more self-involved. Once we are trapped in virtual reality, we as individuals are not real anymore.

Originally published at https://www.egyptianmillennials.com on April 22, 2021.